Glass 
Book 




P. L. 123 GPO 9—1455 




SAMUEL SLATER. 
"The Father of American Cotton Manufacture. 



THE 

INDUSTRIAL EVOLUTION 

OF 

THE UNITED STATES 



BY 

CARROLL WRIGHT, LL.D. 

United States Commissioner of Labor 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1902 



A/0* 
j 1 b&> 



Copyright, 1895, 1897 
By Flood & Vincent 



THE CAXTON PRESS 
NEW YORK. 



TRANS FUR 
D. O. PUBLIC LIBKAJBY 
BBPT. lO, 1©40 



609830 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROPKRTT 
fBANSCBRRBD FROM PUBUO LIBRARY 



o 

^ TO 

^ PRESIDENT 

FRANCIS A. WALKER. 



i 




I 



PREFACE. 



The plan of this work comprehends a plain, simple 
statement of the leading facts attending the planting and 
development of the mechanical industries of our country. 
No attempt has been made to discuss some of the influ- 
ences which have affected their development, such as the 
varied effects of tariff legislation, financial experiments, 
foreign policies, or economic conditions and principles. 
To have entered upon an ambitious field involving such 
important elements in the evolution of industry would 
have led to a work much more extensive than that con- 
templated. The results have been given, however, in 
such concise form as to present the general story of our 
industrial growth and the logical effects of such growth 
as shown in the various phases of the labor movement. 
Modern industry brought this movement as it is now un- 
derstood into existence, and its influence upon future de- 
velopment will be important. 

As invention has been the vitalizing principle of the 
factory system, it has been deemed wise to incorporate 
chapters on the influence of machinery. These chap- 
ters, the last three, are largely from addresses which I 
have made, and the line of thought followed in them is 
the result of extended observation and the wide study of 
facts, a study which has led me to change the conclus- 
ions reached by the earlier consideration of what I now 
see was a limited range of experiences. 

The inception of great industries during the past quar- 
ter of a century and the building up of great manufactur- 



vi 



Preface. 



ing establishments are features which, however desirable 
in an exhaustive work, could not be treated in detail, 
but the figures showing the results of such undertakings 
have been freely used, and they tell the story of the gen- 
eral movement and of the distribution of industrial in- 
terests. 

The details of the development of transportation are 
legitimate features of the evolution of industry, but they 
have been omitted, that a continuous general story might 
be told in such a way as to interest and instruct the class 
of readers for whom this work is intended ; but their 
great importance is recognized, as well as the importance 
of mining, agriculture, and other sources of our vast sup- 
ply of raw materials. 

In the preparation of this work I have had the skilful 
services of Messrs. Samuel C. Dunham and Charles W. 
Morris, Jr. , in stenographic work, in proof-reading, and 
in the verification of names, dates, etc. I am also 
indebted to Mr. Wm. M. Steuart, late Chief of Division 
of Manufactures in the Eleventh Census, for the verifica- 
tion of figures taken from that and preceding censuses. 
All the maps and diagrams have been drawn by Mr. 
Charles G. Leonard especially for this volume, and many 
of the illustrations are from original sources. 

c. D. w. 

Washington, D. C, June i, Z895. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER. PAGE. 

Introduction n 

PART I.— THE EVOLUTION OF INDUSTRY : 
THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 

I. The Inception of Industries — 

Shipbuilding 23 

II. Shipbuilding (Concluded) .... 33 

III. Textile Industries 43 

IV. Textile Industries (Concluded) . 53 
V. Printing and Publishing .... 61 

VI. Sawmills — Buildings and Build- 

ing Materials 71 

VII. The Iron Industry 80 

VIII. The Iron Industry (Concluded) . 92 

IX. Labor and Wages 104 

PART II.— THE EVOLUTION OF INDUSTRY: 
1 790-1890. 

X. The Development of the Fac- 

tory System 117 

XI. The Development of Industries, 

1790-1860 132 

XII. The Civil War ; An Industrial 

Revolution 143 

XIII. The Development of Industries, 

1860-1890 159 

vii 



viii 



Contents. 



CHAPTER. PACK. 

XIV. The Development of Industries, 

i 860-1 890 (Concluded) 174 

XV. The Number of Persons Employed 

and Their Total Wages ... 189 

XVI. Women and Children in Industry 200 
XVII. Labor and Rates of Wages, 1790- 

1890 215 

PART III.— THE LABOR MOVEMENT. 

XVIII. The Inception of the Labor Move- 
ment ' 231 

XIX. Labor Organizations 241 

XX. Labor Organizations (Concluded) 253 

XXI. The Basis of Labor Legislation . 264 

XXII. Labor Legislation 273 

XXIII. Labor Legislation (Concluded) . 283 

XXIV. Labor Controversies 293 

XXV. Historic Strikes 301 

XXVI. The Chicago Strike, 1894 — Boy- 
cotts 313 

PART IV.— THE INFLUENCE OF MACHINERY 
ON LABOR. 

XXVII. The Influence of Machinery on 

Labor — Displacement . . . . . 323 
XXVII I. The Influence of Machinery on 

Labor — Expansion 336 

XXIX. The Ethical Influence of Ma- 
chinery on Labor 343 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Samuel Slater Frontispiece. 

PAGE. 

Marquette Descending the Mississippi 31 

The " Half-Moon " on the Hudson 32 

Fulton's " Clermont," 1807 37 

Bell's Steamboat, "Comet," 1812 38 

"Old Ironsides" 40 

A Modern Atlantic Liner 42 

The Spinning-Wheel 44 

The Hand-Loom 45 

Arkwright's Spinning Machine 50 

Hargreaves' Spinning-Jenny 54 

Crompton's Mule-Jenny 56 

Benjamin Franklin 61 

The Franklin Press 65 

Plymouth, 1621 73 

The First Church Erected in Connecticut, 1638 75 

Weaving Room in a Cotton-Mill, Lowell, Massachusetts . 124 

Eli Whitney's Original Cotton-Gin 127 

Hulling Cotton-Gin, with Feeder, Breaker, and Condenser 128 

The Self- Acting Mule 129 

English Power-Loom for Weaving Calico 130 

Weaving Room in a Southern Cotton-Mill 134 

The Sewing Machine 141 

A Virginia Tobacco Field 144 

A Leaf Tobacco Sale in Virginia 148 

Stemming Tobacco in a Virginia Factory 150 

Drying Room in a Southern Tobacco Factory 153 

Picking Cotton 154 

"Cotton Day" at Marietta, Georgia 156 

Shipping Cotton, Charleston, South Carolina 157 

Hand-Loom now in Use in North Carolina 163 

A Family Teasing Wool 165 

Shoemaker at the Bench 169 

"The Champion" Pegger 170 

Spinning Room in a Southern Cotton Factory 176 

The Dorrance "Breaker," near Wilkes Barre, Pa 179 

Wilkes Barre "Breaker Boys" 181 

Old-Fashioned Stage Coach 324 

Passenger Car, 1834 326 

Freight Car, 1835 326 

Freight and Passenger Cars, 1848 327 

Model of the John Stevens Locomotive, 1825 328 



X 



Maps and Diagrams. 



PAGE. 

Model of the Stockton and Darlington Locomotive, No. i 330 

The "George Washington" Locomotive, 1835 332 

The Hoe Sextuple Stereotype Perfecting Press and Folder 333 
First Steam Train on the Pennsylvania State Railroad . . 335 

The ' ' Pioneer, ' ' First Locomotive in Chicago 339 

A Modern Locomotive 340 

Masonic Temple, Chicago 344 

MAPS AND DIAGRAMS. 

Map showing Number of Inhabitants to the Square Mile in 

Each State First front lining page. 

Map showing Ratio of Imports to Exports, and General 

Direction of Each Second front lining page. 

Centers of Population at Each Census from 1790 to 1890 . . 17 

Railway Mileage of the United States 18 

Manufacturing Industries \ 159 

Center of Manufacturing, 1850-1890 160 

Textiles 161 

Cotton 162 

Wool ; Carpets 164 

Silk 165 

Dyeing and Finishing 166 

Tailoring 167 

Ladies' Clothing 168 

Foot-wear 169 

Food Products 171 

Flour, Meal, etc 172 

Meat-packing and Slaughtering 174 

Iron and Steel . 177 

Coke 180 

Petroleum 183 

Lumber, etc. ; Brick and Tile 184 

Printing and Publishing 185 

Total Number of Employees 191 

Total Wages Paid to All Employees 192 

Number of Women Employees 205 

Number of Children Employees 207 

City Public Works 217 

Cotton Goods 218 

Agricultural Implements ; Books and Newspapers .... 219 

Lumber ; Metals and Metallic Goods 220 

Paper ; Woolen Goods 221 

Railroads ; Building Trades 222 

All Industries 223 

Carriages and Wagons 224 

All Articles Averaged According to Importance . . . 226, 227 
Map showing Distribution of Gold, Silver, Coal, and Iron, 

First end lining page. 
Map showing Acquisition of Territory . Second end lining page. 



THE INDUSTRIAL EVOLUTION 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES. 



INTRODUCTION. 

LAND. RESOURCES. POPULATION. 

By the definitive treaty of Paris, September 3, 1783, 
between the United States and England, the United States 
gained all the material objects of the Revolution and came 
into possession of an imperial estate of 827,844 square 
miles of territory. * This was the national domain March 
4, 1789, when the new constitution went into effect and 
the federal government under it began its operations. It 
consisted of the thirteen original states and the territory 
claimed by some of them. The area of the United States 
since then has been greatly increased by purchase, by 
conquest, and by cession. The first great accessions were 
through the acquisition of the Louisiana and Oregon 
tracts in 1803-5, covering 1,171,931 square miles. The Accessions. 
Florida purchase of 18 19 added 59,268 square miles. 
From Texas in 1845 the United States gained 376,163 
square miles, while the first Mexican cession added 545,- 
753 square miles, and the Gadsden purchase, in 1853, 
44,064 square miles. In 1867 Russia, by purchase, 

*I have used the areas of the original territory of the United States and all 
accessions thereto as given in the Federal Census Reports. They have been 
made with great care by Prof. Henry Gannett, of the Geological Survey and 
Geographer of the Census. The statements of no two authorities agree, the 
disagreement resulting from different estimates of boundary lines. The varia- 
tion, however, is not very great. It seems wiser, therefore, to take the state- 
ments of the federal government. 

11 



12 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



National 
domain. 



Public domain. 



Resources. 



ceded to the United States Alaska, with an estimated 
area of 532,409 square miles. * All these acquisitions, 
added to the original territory, make the total area of our 
national domain 3,558,009 square miles. f 

The ' ' public domain ' ' of the United States, as distin- 
guished from the 1 1 national domain, ' ' comprehends the 
lands within federal boundaries owned by the government 
and which were at its disposal for public purposes in va- 
rious ways. The ' ' public domain ' ' is the name given 
by the General Land Office to these lands. Before any 
dispositions the public domain contained 2,889,179.91 
square miles. % This vast quantity of land has been dis- 
posed of through sales to settlers, grants to states for ed- 
ucational and other purposes, and grants to railroads to 
aid them in building their lines, until there remains at the 
present time only 946,938 square miles subject to the 
disposition of the federal government. 1 1 Had the govern- 
ment retained all the public domain, it would now have 
at its disposal an area of lands somewhat less than that 
of the whole United States, excluding Alaska. It will be 
seen that the land element in the industrial development 
of the country has been amply sufficient to justify the 
prophecies of the statesmen who founded the govern- 
ment. 

The natural resources of the United States consist of 
almost every species of raw material produced by or from 
the earth essential to make a nation great in the three 
lines of development — agriculture, manufactures, com- 
merce. The people in colonial days were quite content 
in the utilization of the natural resources of the soil and 
the forests. In the settlement of Virginia it was expected 

* Estimate of Ivan Petroff, Special Agent of the Tenth Census. 

fSee map showing accessions. 

X " The Public Domain," by Thomas Donaldson. 

|| Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 1894. 



Introduction. 



13 



that great gold mines would be discovered, and prospect- 
ing was at once begun. The results, however, were not 
satisfactory, and attention was turned to the exportation 
of timber, later on of tobacco, and afterward of cotton. 
The northern settlements exported manufactured timber Exportation of 
in the shape of shingles, ship timber, and other products 1 e ' 
of the forest. The fisheries also added to the resources 
of the colonists, and as the settlements extended back 
from the coast, both north and south, various attempts 
were made, some successful and others unsuccessful, 
toward winning from nature what she had to give with- 
out going beneath the surface. The vast tracts of virgin 
forest supplied the material for building, as well as prod- 
ucts for exportation. These simple natural products at- 
tracted settlers and gave them sufficient occupation, but 
as the country grew the discovery of iron and lead ores 

. . Gold, silver 

and of coal, and occasionally of gold and silver, increased andiron, 
the wealth of the country and aided in its wonderful de- 
velopment.* There are no estimates of the area of the 
iron, gold, and silver lands of the country that can be 
trusted, but the coal-fields east of the Rocky Mountain 
and Pacific tiers of states would cover an area of nearly 
one hundred thousand square miles, a territory a dozen 
times as large as the state of Massachusetts. The dis- 
covery of great quantities of gold in California in 1 849 
gave a new impetus to the development of our mineral 
resources, while the states of Nevada, Arizona, and Col- 
orado have given of their wealth in great abundance. 

The value of natural products can be stated in figures wealth, 
for the year 1889. In that year the farms gave $2,460,- 
107,454 worth of products for the support of our people 
and for foreign trade. The value of the products of all 



*For distribution of mineral products see map showing- deposits of gold, 
silver, coal, and iron. 



14 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



mining industries was $587,230,662; of the fisheries, 
natural e $44,277,514; and of the forests, $446,034,761. This 
last value includes $8,077,379 worth of tar and turpen- 
tine, $403,667,575 worth of lumber and other mill prod- 
ucts, and $34,289,807 worth of timber products not man- 
ufactured at mill. The total value of all these natural 
resources for the year 1889 was $3,537,650,391 — cer- 
tainly a vast product, representing labor, the profitable 
investment of capital, and the energy of the people. The 
wealth of the country, including all material evidences of 
wealth, like land, buildings, merchandise, and all forms 
of real and personal property, in 1890 amounted to $65,- 
037, 09 1 , 1 97, of which amount $39, 544, 544, 333 represents 
the value of real estate and the improvements thereon 
and $25,492,546,864 that of personal property, including 
railroads, mines, and quarries. Of course these great 
amounts are only approximately correct, there being 
many elements to preclude perfect accuracy, but they 
have been arrived at with great care and serve well their 
purpose to illustrate the development of the country as 
shown in property in existence. No comparative state- 
ments for any colonial period can be made. The per 
capita wealth at the present time is about one thousand 
dollars. It will be seen by these figures that the means 
for development are unlimited and indicate the activity of 
our people. 

From the time of the first permanent settlement in Vir- 
'opuiation. ginia in 1607 and in Massachusetts in 1620, the popula- 
tion of the colonies grew to be nearly four millions at the 
time of the adoption of the federal constitution, March 4, 

1789. This constitution provided that a census of the 
people should be taken every tenth year, beginning with 

1790. The first census showed a population of 3,929,- 
214. Mr. Bancroft, the historian, states that in 1775 the 



Introduction. 



15 



colonies were inhabited by persons ' ' one fifth of whom 
had for their mother-tongue some other language than 
the English." The one fifth who could not claim the 
English mother-tongue came from France, Sweden, Hol- 
land, and Germany, the importance of the contributions 
being in the order named. Drawing the line at the date 
named, the beginning of our constitutional government, 
the descendants of the people then living now constitute 
what may be called popularly the true American stock. Al 
At the time of the first census (1790) about seven hun- stl 
dred and fifty thousand of the people of the United States 
were colored. The population for each decennial census 
was as follows : 



Census Per cent 
years. Population, of ificrease. 

179° 3,9 2 9,2i4 ... 

1800 5,308,483 35.10 

1810 7,239,88i 36.38 

1820 9,633,822 33-07 

1830 12,866,020 33.55 

1840 17,069,453 32.67 

1850 23,191,876 35.87 

i860 31,443,321 35.58 

1870 38,558,371 22.63 

1880 50,155,783 30.08 

1890 62,622,250 24.86 



The population June 1, 1890, excluding Indians and Present popuia- 
other persons in Indian Territory, on Indian reservations, tlon ' 
and in Alaska, was 62,622,250, as given in the foregoing 
table ; but including these persons the aggregate popu- 
lation of the United States and its territories was 62,- 
979,766.* It is probable that now, in the year 1895, tne 
population is about sixty-eight millions. The average 
number of inhabitants to the square mile, taking the 
gross area, land and water surface, was in 1790, 4.75, 
while in 1890 it was 20.70. The increase of population 

*See map showing distribution of population at eleventh census (1890). 



1 6 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



has come through natural increase and by immigration. 
Prior to 1 8 19 no account was taken of the number of im- 
migrants settling in the United States, but the accepted 
estimate gives the total number between the first census 
and the year 1819 as 250,000. Since that year the fed- 
eral government has taken account of immigration ; yet 
it has not been a correct one in all respects, on account 
immigration. of the faults in the entries of total alien passengers, etc. ; 

but since 1856 immigrants have been given separately, 
so that the movements in this direction for each ) T ear are 
now given with fair accuracy. Up to June 30, 1894, the 
total number of immigrants since 1790 was 17,363,977. 
Nearly one half of the number arriving since the year 
1820 has come from Ireland and the German states, in- 
cluding Prussia, and of this half of the whole foreign im- 
migration more than one half has come from the German 
states. The balance of the immigration has come from 
all parts of Europe and some parts of Asia, while the 
British possessions and South America have contributed 
a fair share. According to the census of 1890, the popu- 
Nativeand lation consisted of 53,372,703 native-born and 9,249,547 
foreign-bom. foreign-born, but the number of persons having one or 
both parents foreign-born was 20,676,046, or 33.02 per 
cent of the whole population. Taking this number and 
those whose grandparents were born abroad into con- 
sideration, it becomes quite evident that while in 1775 
one fifth of the population of the colonies could not 
claim for their mother-tongue the English language, 
now one half cannot make such claim. 

The strangers attracted to this country through the 
facilities for gaining land and through a desire largely 
to better conditions, have been assimilated with great 
facility, for the truth that strikes all observers who 
study to any extent the immigration to this country is 



Introduction. 



17 



that the descendants of recruits from all nationalities be- 
come in one or two generations thoroughly American. 
The exceptions are few and not sufficient to vitiate the 
general statement. This great population has spread 
itself over the whole country, it has multiplied the orig- 
inal thirteen states to forty-four, it has prospected every 
region, it knows where its richest deposits are to be 
found. Jefferson said it would be one thousand years 
before the Great Northwest would be settled, but he said 
this not foreseeing the great inventions which have made 
it possible for the people to settle in the remotest corners 
of the land. The pioneer element of the Anglo-Saxon 
race could not content itself until it had reached the ut- 
most western boundary of its American inheritance. It 
has developed cities and founded states, like its Aryan 



Distribution of 
population. 



z 




PENNSYLVANIA 



OHIO 



emu**. /W- ! *r*7 \ry#&f- ! 



KENTUCKY 



Centers of Population in the United States at each Census from 
1790 to 1890. 



ancestry in its march from the table-lands of Central Asia center of 
across and over the whole of Europe. In the forty-four P°P ulat1011, 
states there are now 448 cities having a population of 



1 8 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Urban popula- 
tion. 



Railroad 
mileage. 



more than eight thousand each, while in 1790, at the be- 
ginning of our federal existence, there were but six such 
cities. The urban population now constitutes 29. 20 per 
cent of the total population, while in 1790 it constituted 
but 3.35 per cent of the total. The center of population 
has shifted westward. At the time of the first enumera- 
tion it was twenty-three miles east of Baltimore ; to-day 
it is twenty miles east of Columbus, in the state of Indi- 
ana. It has moved westward 505 miles in one hundred 
years, and constantly along the 39th parallel of latitude, 
varying but a few minutes from that degree. The center 
of area, not taking Alaska into account, is in northern 
Kansas, approximately in latitude 39 55'. 

These elements — land, resources, and people — are the 
basic elements of our industrial evolution. With them 
alone, however, industrial development could not take 



RAILWAY MILEAGE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



IN THOUSANDS- 



1.830 
J840 
1850 
I860 
18 70 
1880 
1890 



place. There must be added the vitalizing element of 
intelligence, inventive genius, and courage. The people 
of the United States have furnished these qualities ; so 
the foundation for the story has been laid with abundant 
strength and proper proportions. 

The great influence of transportation is best illustrated 
by the mileage of railroads. In 1830 only twenty-three 



Introduction. 



19 



miles of railroads were operated in the United States, 
while in 1890 there were 163,597 miles, and in 1893 
there were 173,433 miles. 

This represents the means of carrying on internal com- Means of trans- 
merce, but in addition to the railroads, water transporta- P ortatlon - 
tion adds largely to freight and passenger facilities. The 
navigable rivers and the Great Lakes all have their vast 
carrying trade ; but the development of the whole inter- 
nal commerce is fully illustrated by the miles of railroad 
operated at different periods. 

The resources of the country, resulting in the products 
that have been stated, have brought to the United States 
vast commercial relations. The exports for the year end- Exports, 
ing June 30, 1894, amounted to $892,142,572, while the 
imports, both free and dutiable, were valued at $654,- 
994,622. This great trade is represented on the accom- 
panying map, and the countries of the world with which 
the United States has commercial relations are shown 
thereon. 



PART I. 

THE EVOLUTION OF INDUSTRY 
THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 



PART I -THE EVOLUTION OF INDUSTRY: 
THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE INCEPTION OF INDUSTRIES. SHIPBUILDING. 



The beginnings of great nations are usually shrouded 
in mystery and doubt. Tradition crystallizes into his- 
tory or into what is accepted as such. The beginnings 
of industry are more in doubt than the beginnings of 
nations themselves. It is impossible to learn when the 
ordinary handicrafts which have been essential to the 
progress of man were developed to such an extent that 
they could be called handicrafts. Weaving, spinning, 
pottery, stone-working, even iron-working, and many 
other industries that to-day constitute the greatest and 
most important elements in our manufactures and com- 
merce, cannot be traced to their starting-points. 

The American nation has the advantage of most great 
nations, for its beginnings are clearly defined, its growth 
readily traceable, its expansion matters of record. Doubts 
may exist as to certain features of American history, but 
its great trend can be followed with clearness. Its indus- 
trial development forms part of its history, and consti- 
tutes one of its most interesting features. The study of 
the struggles of a people to establish themselves upon an 
independent industrial basis, the efforts of the infant state 
to free itself from the control of other states, fill the whole 
record with the greatest interest, and especially as all 



Uncertainty of 
early history. 



Trend of 
American 
industrial 
history. 



23 



24 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Purposes of the 

American 

colonists. 



Early con- 
ditions. 



such efforts and struggles can be located and brought, as 
it were, to the family interest which surrounds the growth 
of our own people. 

The American colonists were content to win from na- 
ture the things essential to a fairly comfortable existence. 
They came here that they might pursue their ways in 
accordance with their own likes. Whatever their mo- 
tives in crossing the stormy western ocean, they knew 
well that they must win their way in all material things 
and must establish their own freedom in industrial mat- 
ters. They were without capital and could pursue their 
simple industries only as individuals. The factory sys- 
tem had no place in the world then. They very natur- 
ally followed the conditions and circumstances of the 
home country, and their necessities resulted in the imme- 
diate introduction of industries which have flourished and 
made our country great. Their ambition at first was to 
be a prosperous agricultural people, as the old country 
intended them to be, yet they were obliged to carry 
along with agricultural pursuits mechanical work, that 
they might be housed and clothed. 

The industries of the world were conducted under the 
domestic system of labor ; that is to say, the hand, 
supplemented with crude tools and machines, was used 
in the production of goods everywhere. They had at 
their command all the methods which the mother- 
country could command for producing goods ; at least, 
they brought with them the knowledge of handicrafts 
which enabled them to command the methods in exist- 
ence. They found here the forests, which had no 
counterpart in the country from which they came, and 
they saw at once the opportunities for building their 
own little vessels and the prospect of shipping to the 
mother-country some of the products of the forests ; and 



The Inccptio7i of Indtistries. 



*5 



while they had been led to believe that they would find 
on the American coast large deposits of mineral wealth 
which would reward their labors, they were soon obliged 
to turn their attention in other directions. The London 
Company, which in 1607 planted the first colony at 
Jamestown, had stimulated the hopes of the discovery of 
gold. They must have from the very first, however, had 
in mind the development, or the establishment at least, 
of manufactures. From Stith's " History of Virginia"* 
it is learned that Captain Newport, in his second voyage, 
which took place late in 1608, brought with him work- 1608. 
men for the purpose of making pitch, glass, tar, soap- 
ashes, etc. , which, the historian observes, had the country 
been peopled would have done well, but which proved 
only a burden and a hindrance to those not so engaged, workmen 
He says that ' ' no sooner were they landed, but the pres- 
ident dispersed as many as were able, some to make glass, 
and others for pitch, tar, and soap-ashes. Leaving them 
at the fort under the council's care and oversight, he 
himself carried thirty about five miles down the river, to 
learn to cut down trees, make clapboards, and lie in the 
woods." The council in London made serious complaint 
that gold and silver were not forthcoming, and made some 
threats of desertion if the expenses of the expedition were 
not defrayed by the ship's return. Captain John Smith 
sent an answer by the ship, which was dispatched with 
the results of the pitch, glass, and soap-ash experiments 
and with what wainscot and clapboards could be pro- 
vided. So this little cargo was, historically, the first ex- First exports, 
port which the colonies undertook, with the exception of 
a load of sassafras gathered near Cape Cod in 1608. This 
cargo from Virginia was almost exclusively of manufac- 
tured articles. Many of the experiments proved unsuc- 

* London, 1753. 



26 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



1617. 

Decay of early 
works. 

Cultivation of 
tobacco. 



Cordage. 



Salt works. 



cessful, yet during their leisure time, as the historian 
states it, the Virginia colonists made clapboards and 
wainscot. Hemp, flax, and silk grass grew naturally, 
and some iron ore was sent to England and found to 
yield as good iron as any from other parts of the world. 

By 161 7 what works and buildings had been con- 
structed at Jamestown had fallen to decay, the prospects 
of the country declining rapidly. The people had turned 
their attention from primitive manufacture to the cultiva- 
tion of the tobacco plant. May 17, 1620, the company 
in London had a meeting, to which report was made of 
this attention of the colonists to tobacco-growing, and at 
which Sir Edwin Sandys, who had been treasurer of the 
company, made a statement that he had endeavored to 
turn the colonists from the cultivation of tobacco to the 
production of necessary commodities. He informed the 
company that for this purpose one hundred and fifty per- 
sons had been sent to set up three iron works ; that 
directions had been given for making cordage, as 
hemp, flax, and more especially silk grass, grew in 
the colonies in great abundance, and were found upon 
experiment to make the best cordage and line that 
was manufactured. Each family was ordered to set one 
hundred plants of it, and the governor himself set five 
thousand. The colonists had also been advised to make 
pitch, tar, pot and soap-ashes, and timber for shipping, 
masts, planks, boards, etc., for which purpose men and 
materials had been sent over for erecting sawmills, al- 
though no sawmill was erected for many years. Salt 
works, which had originally been started, were restored, 
and the colony was generally imbued with new hopes of 
plenty, not only to serve the people with salt, but to 
supply the fisheries on the American coast. 

It is evident that sufficient provision had been made 



The Inception of Industries. 



27 



for the planting of the principal useful arts in Virginia, 

for among 1 the list of tradesmen who had settled there Useful arts in 

& Virginia. 

may be named husbandmen, gardeners, brewers, bakers, 
sawyers, carpenters, joiners, shipwrights, boatwrights, 
ploughwrights, millwrights, masons, turners, smiths of 
all sorts, coopers, weavers, tanners, potters, fowlers, 
fishhook-makers, net-makers, shoemakers, rope-makers, 
brickmakers, bricklayers, dressers of hemp and flax, tile- 
makers, edge-tool-makers, leather-dressers, men skilful 
in vines and in iron works and mining. As stated in an 
old chronicle,* "the men sent have been, most of them, 
choice men, born and bred up to labor and industry ; out 
of Devonshire about one hundred men brought up to 
husbandry ; out of Warwickshire and Staffordshire above 
one hundred and ten ; and out of Sussex about forty, all 
framed to iron works, etc." This chronicle also says 
that " cotton-wooll and sugar canes, all of which may 
there also be had in abundance, with an infinity of other- 
more," were among the natural resources of the Virginia 
soil. 

Many attempts were made to divert the colonists from Attempts to 
the production of tobacco and to establish in place of it handicrafts 
the work of handicraftsmen. These will be dealt with in 
a few illustrations. Their history is full of romantic in- 
terest, illustrating the wants of the colonists and their 
heroic efforts to supply them. 

The Virginia colonists were planters by nature and by 
training more than they were manufacturers, and they Planters 
started in the world with the idea that planting and agri- 
culture generally were far more respectable than commer- 
cial and manufacturing pursuits. As they grew they left 
their carrying trade to the seamen of the northern col- 
onies, and while they had the raw material for many 

* " A Declaration of the State of Virginia," 1620; Force's collection. 



Virginia. 



28 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



manufactures they were quite content to raise the material 
and let others work it into completed products. So the 
Virginia colonists rested dependent upon England for 
clothing, exchanging their increased staple, tobacco, for 
it and for such other necessaries as they found essential. 
In December, 1620, another lot of colonists settled at 
Settlement at Plymouth, where they found a sterile soil and very rusr- 

Plymouth. J J . . . T 

ged climate, but from their way oi living they early 
became interested in manufacturing and commercial en- 
terprises. Like their neighbors in Virginia, they were 
obliged to turn their attention first to the cultivation of 
the soil for the supplying of the means of subsistence, but 
they, too. found timber in great abundance, and the con- 
verting it into marketable products offered resources for 
trade with the home country, especially as England's 
timber supply had been greatly wasted in the conduct of 
her iron works. This waste had been so wanton that 
means were taken as early as 1581 to restrain it. Thus 
the colonists at Plymouth and the others which settled in 
that vicinity became exporters of the products of forest 
industries. 

Early exports The Anne was loaded at Plymouth on the tenth of 

from Plymouth. t , ., riii i 

beptember, 1623. with a cargo 01 clapboards and re- 
turned to England. The Anne was a small ship of one 
hundred and forty tons.* With her cargo there were 
beaver skins and other furs. So the two colonies imme- 
diately after their settlement were enabled to send the 
products of their own industry to England. 
Shipbuilding. The northern colony naturally took to shipbuilding ; 

first, because of the necessity of making small boats and 
vessels for their coasting, and, secondly, because they 



_ * Tons Burden. — The tonnage or earn ing capacity of a vessel : the quan- 
tity or number of tons of freight a vessel will carry : as, a vessel of three 
hundred tons burden. The internal cubic capacity of a vessel expressed in 
tons, now reckoned at one hundred cubic feet each. ' 



The Inception of Indies tries. 



29 



found the means ready at hand from which vessels could 

be constructed. The first vessel, barring some small First vessel. 

open boats built by De Soto's men, ever constructed in 

this country by Europeans was a Dutch vessel named the 

Onrest, a vessel of sixteen tons burden. This vessel was 

built by Captain Adriaen Block, at Manhattan River, in 

1614, and its building was necessitated by the destruction 

by fire of one of four vessels which arrived in that year 

from Amsterdam. It was in this little vessel, the Onrest, 

or the Restless, that Captain Hendrickson discovered the 

Schuylkill River in August, 16 16. He also explored 

nearly the whole coast from Nova Scotia to the capes of 

Virginia. Mr. Bishop, in his excellent ' ' History of 

American Manufactures," relates that during the same 

year (1614) in which the Restless was built, Captain John 

Smith sailed for "North Virginia" with two ships and 

forty-five men and boys, to make experiments upon a 

gold and copper mine. Coasting along Maine in April, 

they made some attempts at whaling, but failing in that, 

they built seven boats, in which thirty-seven men made a 

very successful fishing voyage. So the first attempt, First attempt 

humble though it was, at the fishing business in this atfishlng< 

country was made in American bottoms. 

Within four years after the landing the Plymouth col- 
ony was joined by a carpenter and a salt-maker. These p^y^u'th!^ at 
men were sent out by the company in London. This 
was in 1624. This carpenter built two shallops and a 
lighter, and the salt-maker selected a site and erected 
a building and made an attempt to manufacture salt 
for the fishery, first at Cape Ann, and the next year 
at Cape Cod, but his attempts were unsuccessful. In 
1627 the Plymouth folks built a pinnace at Monamet, 
now Sandwich, Mass. This was used for fishing, but 
it was not till 1641 that the first vessel of any size 



30 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Shipbuilding by 

Massachusetts 

colony. 



Indian canoes. 



Shipbuilding 
Medford and 
Marblehead. 



At Salenv 



At Boston. 



was constructed, which was a bark of fifty tons burden. 

The first vessel built by the Massachusetts colony was 
The Blessing of the Bay, built at Mystic, now Medford, 
Mass., and launched on the 4th of July, 1631. This 
vessel belonged to Governor Winthrop. It made several 
coasting trips, and it is related that upon one occasion, 
while passing Long Island, the sailors were greatly sur- 
prised at seeing Indian canoes of considerable size, some 
of which were capable of carrying eighty persons. There 
was another vessel built at Medford in 1633, named the 
Rebecca, which was of sixty tons ; and another ship of 
one hundred and twenty tons was built at Marblehead 
by Salem people in 1636. At this time, on account of 
the peculiar state of affairs, the colonists were thrown 
upon their own efforts to secure a large proportion of the 
necessaries of life. The emigrant ships which had come 
from the home country, and which had constantly added 
to the numbers of the colonists, had supplied them with 
most of their provisions, other than corn and fish. The 
civil wars in England interrupted and practically sus- 
pended this supply ; so the colonists were obliged to re- 
sort to their own resources, as navigation had become 
precarious. As Governor Winthrop states in his journal, 
' ' the general fear of want of foreign commodities, now 
our money was gone, and that things were like to go 
well in England, set us on work to provide shipping of 
our own ; for which end Mr. Peter, being a man of very 
public spirit and singular activity for all occasions, pro- 
cured some to join for building a ship at Salem of three 
hundred tons, and the inhabitants of Boston stirred up 
by his example, set upon the building another at Boston 
of one hundred and fifty tons. The work was hard to 
accomplish for want of money, etc. ; but our shipwrights 
were content to take such pay as the county could 



The Inception of Industries. 



31 



make." Corn was made a legal tender for debt. 

Vessels were built during the following years, notably Vess 
in 1642, when five vessels of a considerable size were l6 4 2 - 
built at Boston, Plymouth, Dorchester, and Salem ; and 
in 1644, when some as large as two hundred and fifty 
tons were built at Cambridge. One of these took out 
a cargo of pipe-staves, fish, etc., to the Canary Islands. 
Quite a large vessel, three hundred tons burden, was 
built in 1646 at Boston. 

By order of the court, on account of the rapid devel- 
opment of shipbuilding, which the court states was a 




Marquette Descending the Mississippi. 

business of great importance for the common good, and 
following, as it asserts, the commendable course of Eng- 
land and other places, surveyors were ordered to be ap- Surveyors of 
pointed to examine the ships to see if the work had been ships ' 
performed and carried on according to the rules of the 
art of shipbuilding. This was in October, 1641. 

Shipbuilders were incorporated and the business flour- 
ished, for it appears that as early as 1665 Massachusetts 



32 



Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Incorporation 
of shipbuilders. 



Ships built in 
Massachusetts. 



had about So vessels of from 20 to 40 tons, about 40 from 
40 to 100 tons, and about a dozen ships above 100 tons, 
making in all over 130 sail. The business was regulated 
by law and at the same time encouraged. The evidence 
of the prosecution of the shipbuilding business was all 
along the coast — at Salem, at Newburyport, New Bed- 
ford, Salisbury, everywhere where harbors, opportunity, 
and supplies were convenient. These statements are true 
of the district of Maine, which was then and for a long 
time a part of Massachusetts, whose coves, bays, and 
streams near the seaboard and whose great supply of 
timber made shipbuilding the attractive industry. 

A century before the Declaration of Independence the 
number of ships which had been built along the Massa- 
chusetts coast and belonging to the people settled there 
numbered thirty vessels between 100 and 250 tons, 400 
of from 30 to 100 tons, and 300 between 6 and 10 tons. 




The "Half-Moon" on the Hudson. 



CHAPTER II. 



shipbuilding {Concluded). 

Connecticut started her shipbuilding interest as early 
as 1640, when the General Court of that colony declared shipbuilding 
that it was necessary for the comfortable support of the Connectlcut - 
plantations that a trade in cotton-wool be set upon and 
attempted. The governor of the plantations, Edward 
Hopkins, undertook the finishing and setting forth of a 
vessel to those parts where cotton-wool was to be obtained. 
The first cruiser employed by American colonists was 
built in 1646, or a little after, by the New Haven and 
Hartford colonies, to cruise in Long Island Sound for 
the purpose of preventing encroachments by the Dutch. 
This vessel carried ten guns and forty men. Shipbuild- 
ing flourished in Connecticut, the leading place for such 
enterprise being at New London, on the Thames. The 
first actual merchant vessel was built there by merchants 
of New London and Newport, which cost, exclusive 
of iron work, etc., £200, and many vessels of various 
sizes, but all small, were built for voyages to the 
West Indies, to Newfoundland, and even to Europe. 
The barks of that day were small vessels, the name be- 
ing applied to anything that was larger than an ordinary 
boat. The pinnaces and shallops were deck boats of pinnaces and 
perhaps twenty tons. The largest vessel built at New shallops - 
London was named New London. It was called a ship, 
was of seventy tons burden, and was the largest vessel 
that had been built up to that time, 1666. Whale-fishing 

33 



34 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



in boats along the coast had been pursued by the col- 
onists, and of course the boats for this industry were in 
demand. Besides New London, Essex, in Saybrook 
township, started the shipbuilding industry, and small 
vessels were also built at Sea- Brook, Killingsworth, and 
New Haven. 

A very interesting story is told of an invention which 
was made in colonial days, and while it does not par- 
ticularly belong to the development of industry in 
general, it nevertheless has a bearing on the early appli- 
cation of the inventive genius of this country. The 
story may be found in the ' ' Transactions ' ' of the 
American Philosophical Society, and in Silliman's 
Ea u rly • Journal for 1820. It relates to a submarine vessel con- 

submanne J 

vessel. • trived by David Bushnell, of Saybrook, for the pur- 

pose of blowing up the enemy's ships. Skilful mechan- 
ics had previously made inventions of submarine boats, 
but Bushnell' s invention was different from any previous 
attempt. His design was perfected while he was a 
student of Yale College, and he carried out his plans 
in 1775, after his graduation. Silliman's Journal de- 
scribes Bushnell' s invention as "a machine for sub- 
marine navigation, altogether different from anything 
hitherto devised by the art of man. This machine 
was so constructed that it could be rowed horizontally 
at any given depth under water, and could be raised 
or depressed at pleasure. To this machine, called the 

The American American Turtle (from its resemblance to two upper 
tortoise shells placed in contact), was attached a maga- 
zine of powder, which was intended to be fastened under 
the bottom of a ship, with a driving screw, in such a way 
that the same stroke which disengaged it from the ma- 
chine, should put the internal clock-work in motion. This 
being done, the ordinary operation of a gunlock at the 



Shipbuilding. 



35 



distance of half an hour, or any determinate time, would 
cause the powder to explode, and leave the effects to the 
common laws of nature." It was this same Bushnell 
who sent a fleet of kegs down the Delaware to destroy 
British ships, which incident furnished the origin of the 
humorous song well known as ' ' The Battle of the Kegs. ' ' 

The Connecticut shipbuilding industry was carried on 
with considerable energy until the War of the Revolu- 
tion, when it declined, increasing up to that time, as it 
did in other states. 

Rhode Island began the shipbuilding industry in shipbuilding in 
1646, Narragansett Bay furnishing convenient places for RhodeIsland - 
the construction of vessels, Newport, Bristol, Warren, 
Providence, and places on the Providence and Taunton 
Rivers flourishing in consequence. 

New Hampshire took part in the industry, the build- In Nevv 
ing of ships having been a prominent branch of business Ham P shire - 
from the very first settlement of the province. 

The Restless, built by Adriaen Block in 1614, has 
already been referred to, and was probably the first 
vessel built with a deck ever constructed in this country 
by Europeans. From this the student of the develop- 
ment of industry would naturally expect to find New 
York in later years the leading shipbuilding port, espe- 
cially as the colony was settled under the auspices of 
Amsterdam, the mercantile metropolis of Europe ; that 
it was not so was probably owing to the administration 
of the home company, which stood in the way of taking 
advantage of the many facilities for shipbuilding. The 
Knickerbockers, who came after the Dutch adventurers, 
did build, however, many small vessels, sloops, etc., for 
the prosecution of the Indian trade. These vessels were 
used in the sounds and rivers of the colony and in the 
bays along the coast ; but the restrictions which existed 



In Nev York. 



36 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Number of 
vessels in 1683. 



Extension of 
shipbuilding in 
New York. 



War vessels. 



delayed the opening of the shipbuilding industry, and as 
late as 1652 New Netherlands had but one small wharf. 
The accounts of the early shipbuilding there are very 
meager, and while the shipping interest, after restrictions 
were removed or modified, grew to extensive propor- 
tions, just how much of it was the result of home indus- 
try cannot be clearly stated ; but in 1683 there were three 
barks, three brigantines, twenty-six sloops, and forty-six 
open boats enrolled by name, and in 1686, according to 
an official report of the governor, there were then be- 
longing to the province nine or ten three-mast vessels of 
about eighty or one hundred tons burden, two or three 
ketches, a bark of about forty tons, and about twenty 
smaller vessels of twenty to twenty-five tons each. These, 
except the sloops, traded with England, Holland, and 
the West Indies, a large proportion of which trade was 
conducted in vessels built in the colony. 

Near the end of the seventeenth century the shipping 
of New York had grown to considerable proportions, 
the colony possessing forty square-rigged vessels, sixty- 
two sloops, and sixty boats. These vessels, with a pop- 
ulation not exceeding 6,000, show that the builders of 
New York were alive to their advantages, and at the 
time of the Revolution Poughkeepsie and Albany had 
become prominent in shipbuilding ; and when thirteen 
vessels of the frigate class were ordered by Congress in 
December, 1775, the Congress, of twenty-eight, and the 
Montgomery, of twenty-four guns, were ordered to be 
built at Poughkeepsie. Many of the vessels built at the 
port of New York were of large size. 

Space will not admit of mention of the shipbuilding 
industry on the western lakes, but the development of 
interests necessitated the construction of vessels of vari- 
ous size to navigate those waters. The first mention of 



Shipbuilding. 37 

any vessel built on interior waters, although there may- 
have been some account prior to this, is that of a small 
vessel of sixty tons, whose keel was laid on the 26th 
of January, 1679, at the mouth of Cayuga Creek, on f^akes^ 
the American side of the Niagara, and six miles above 




Fulton's "Clermont," 1S07. 

the falls. It was at this place that the adventurers who 
accompanied Fathers Tonti and Hennepin, under Sieur 
de la Salle, finished and equipped with seven small can- 
non and the usual armament of a man-of-war the first 
vessel that ever set sail upon Lake Erie. The name 
given this vessel was the Griffin. A schooner of forty 
feet keel was launched June 28, 1755, on Lake Ontario, 
and was the first English vessel built on that lake, while First English 
the first American vessel built thereon was at Hanford's Great Lakes 6 . 
Landing, in 1798. The Washington was built at Four 
Mile Creek, near Erie, Pa., on Lake Erie, in 1797, and 
was the first national vessel ever built on that lake. 
During the Revolution many vessels of different sizes 



38 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



In New Jersey. 



In Penn- 
sylvania. 



Philadelphia's 
prominence in 
naval architec- 
ture. 



were built on the lakes, and prior thereto, as different 
expeditions made it necessary, vessels had been con- 
structed for the navigation of the lakes. 

New Jersey began the building of ships as early as 
1683, the industry being carried on at Salem and Bur- 
lington largely, although it is undoubtedly true that ves- 
sels had been built on the Delaware prior to that time. 
It was a principal occupation at Little Egg Harbor, in 
Burlington County. The Governor Livingston, a fine 
schooner, was fitted out as a letter of marque in 1779 
and 1780. 

Pennsylvania established the shipbuilding industry at 
a very early period, and some vessels were built at Phil- 
adelphia in 1683, the year after the arrival of William 
Penn. A shipyard was commenced at the foot of Vine 
Street soon after. Six years after the founding of Phil- 
adelphia she freighted ten vessels with provincial prod- 
ucts for the West Indies ; yet, as time went on, the 
industry did not flourish as it did in some of the more 

northern parts, 

"'f^)"vr an< ^ during" the 

JJz^yJ year just prior to 

the Revolution but 
few vessels were 
built there. At the 
time of the Revo- 
lution Philadelphia 
had become the 
first in naval archi- 
tecture, however, and the city originated huge raft-ships. 
They were immense structures, designed for carrying 
great quantities of timber, to be broken up at the close 
of the voyage. Of the thirteen frigates ordered by Con- 
gress in 1775, the Washington and Randolph, of thirty- 




Bell's Steamboat, "Comet." 1812 



Shipbuilding. 



39 



two guns each, the Effingham, of twenty-eight, and the 
Delaware, of twenty-four guns, were built at Philadel- 
phia. The keels of other war vessels were laid at Phil- 
adelphia, and many smaller vessels built and equipped. 
The development of shipbuilding through invention has 
rested very largely upon the inventive genius of residents 
of Philadelphia. These matters belong to a later date, 
however, than colonial days. 

The state of Delaware early saw the establishment of In Delaware, 
shipbuilding. This occurred especially in the locality of 
the present city of Wilmington. Certain it is that as 
early as 1642 shipbuilding, boatbuilding, and cooper 
work were carried on upon Cooper's Island, but the 
first vessel for foreign trade, which was a brig named 
the Wilmington, was built in 1740. The industry 
was also carried on at New Castle as early as the 
time of the settlement by Penn. The General Wash- 
ington, a fine ship of 250 tons, was launched from the 
shipyard of William Woodcock, in Wilmington, in 1790. 
Wilmington has acquired a wide reputation in ship- 
building, all classes of vessels being built there. 

There are but few particulars of shipbuilding in the I iMiddleanc 
middle and southern colonies, the result, probably, of 1°^ g ern 
the tendency to agricultural pursuits rather than to com- 
merce and manufactures ; but after the earlier years 
Maryland improved her facilities for shipbuilding. They in Maryland, 
were unsurpassed by those of any other province. The 
business progressed rapidly, and Maryland built as early 
as 1769 twenty vessels, with an aggregate of 1,344 tons. 
Only small craft had been built prior to this time. 
In 1772 eight vessels were built in Maryland, a number 
equal to that built in Pennsylvania at the same time. 
During the War of the Revolution, Maryland was ex- 
ceedingly active in fitting out cruisers, and one of the 



4o Industrial Evolution of the U?iiled States. 



In Virginia. 



Shipbuilding 
materials. 



ordered by Congress, the Virginia, of 
tons, was built by the Maryland ship- 
later years, 



first frigates 
twenty-eight 

builders. Others were ordered there in 
while the old Constellation was built at Baltimore for the 
federal government. 

The shipbuilding industry of Virginia has already 
been noticed in slight degree, a few barks, pinnaces, etc. , 
having been built there prior to 1621. The business, 
however, did not make much progress, probably the 
ordinances in prohibition of commerce, under acts of 

P a r 1 i a m ent, 
having much to 
do with the slow 
progress made 
there. Never- 
theless, the Vir- 
ginians turned 
some of their 
attention from 
the soil to com- 
merce, for it is 
recorded that in 
1769 she pro- 
duced twenty- 
seven sail of new vessels, while the Continental Congress 
ordered two frigates, of thirty-six guns each, to be built 
in Virginia, and the old frigate Chesapeake was laid at 
Portsmouth. 

About the close of the last century shipbuilding had 
increased considerably in the southern colonies, and so 
much so that Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina 
each surpassed New Hampshire, while Virginia and Mary- 
land had more manufactories of cordage and cables, used 
so largely in building ships, than any two of the states of 




Old Ironsides. 



Shipbuilding : 



4i 



New York and New Hampshire, New Jersey and Con- 
necticut. Georgia and the Carolinas supplied most ex- 
cellent material for ships, which material was used by 
the shipbuilders of the Middle and Northern States, shipbuilding 
The southern colonies had great advantages in these Sutbem m 
directions. Cedar, pine, live-oak grew in abundance colonieb - 
and gave the very best materials for serviceable ships, 
and in 1740 the Carolinas began seriously to attend to 
shipbuilding, five ships being built in that year, and 
twenty-four square-rigged vessels, besides sloops and 
schooners, were constructed between the years 1740 and 
1779. Some vessels had been built in Georgia as early 
as 1 741, and a new era in shipbuilding, resulting from 
the discovery of extensive supplies of live-oak, began 
in 1750. When the Revolutionary War broke out 
South Carolina availed herself of her facilities, as shown 
in her activity in fitting out cruisers for the defense of 
American coasts. It is to be regretted that the data 
of the shipbuilding interests in the southern colonies are 
not as extensive as those for the northern colonies, but if 
the southern colonies lacked in the building of ships, they 
certainly made up in furnishing the very best material 
for their building. 

The industry in the whole country prior to the Revo- shipbuilding 
lution, when, of course, shipbuilding was suspended to a Resolution, 
large degree, except for war purposes, was satisfactory 
and showed the enterprise of the colonists. The record 
is a flattering one and is a fitting statement with which 
to close this brief account of the shipbuilding of the 
colonies. The account for all the colonies for the year 
1769, the only year for which a summary is found, at 
least just prior to the Revolution, shows that 389 vessels 
had been built, having an aggregate of 20,000 tons 
burden. Of these New Hampshire built 45 ; Massa- 



Ships built in 

different 

colonies. 



Si ipbuilding 
the first 
mechanical 
industry. 



42 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



chusetts, 137; Rhode Island, 39; Connecticut, 50; 
New York, 19; the Jerseys, 4; Pennsylvania, 22; 
Maryland, 20; Virginia, 27; North Carolina, 12 ; South 
Carolina, 12; Georgia, 2. The whole number of ves- 
sels built in all the colonies in the year 1772 was 182. 
These figures show the development when the Revolu- 
tion opened. 

While the history of shipbuilding during colonial 
days would occupy chapters, this account, brief as it is, 
has been given much more length than can be devoted 
to general industries, because it was the first industry to 
attract the colonists other than the planting of the soil. 
It was the first of the mechanical industries to which 
they paid their attention to any profitable degree. 




A Modern Atlantic Liner. 



• 



CHAPTER III. 

TEXTILE INDUSTRIES. * 

It is impossible to determine when the manufacture of 
cloth was first undertaken by the colonists. The records 
of shipbuilding and other industries give positive dates 
in most instances ; but a careful search of documents and 
records fails to disclose the time of the earliest efforts to 
produce their own clothing. There is no doubt, however, 
that with the earliest ships that came to the southern and 
northern colonies there came the spinning-wheel and the Spinning-wheel 
hand-loom, although no mention is made of their advent. and hand ~ loon1. 
It is true, too, that the colonists depended for some time 
upon the mother-country for textiles. They soon learned 
the way of the savages and their skill in utilizing the furs 
of animals, but they could not have entered to any great 
extent upon the spinning of yarn and the weaving of 
cloth. 

The old home of the woolen industry was Holland, 
and England had received her best workers in wool 
from that country ; so the colonies had men entirely 
familiar with weaving. They brought men to Virginia sheep-raising 

& Jo ^ o in Virginia. 

in 1607 who were accustomed to sheep-raising and who 
knew the intricacies of the manufacture of cloth from 
wool fibers. The Virginia colony was the first to intro- 
duce sheep, while the Dutch West India Company 
brought them to New Netherlands as early as 1625. 

* For a detailed account of the woolen industry, see " Manufacture of Wool," 
by S. N. D. North, The Popular Science Monthly, June, 1891 ; for an account 
of cotton and woolen manufactures, see Bishop's " History of American Manu- 
factures," Vol. I, and "A National History of American Manufactures." 

43 



44 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



None were brought to the Plymouth colony, so far as 
can be learned, at as early a date as that, but the Massa- 
chusetts colony imported them about 1633, an d in order 
to protect them from wolves and Indians kept them on 
an island in Boston Harbor. Governor Winthrop stated 
that the Plymouth folks had about forty sheep brought 
to them from Boston in 1634. Strangely enough, the 
year before they felt obliged to forbid the exportation of 
sheep ; so they must have had a few at that time. The 
Massachusetts colony had succeeded in acquiring about 
one thousand sheep by 1642. Dependence had before 
that been largely upon importations from Malaga. The 

flocks of sheep in- 
creased everywhere, 
until, taking all the 
colonies together, the 
accounts show that in 
1 66 1 they had nearly 
one hundred thou- 
sand. It is evident, 
therefore, that at this 
time the colonists 
were in a position to 
make a very large 
proportion of their 
own clothing. The 
raising of wool in- 
creased, and with it, 
as a natural result, the 
manufacture of cloth. 
It is not known how many sheep there were in the 
country at the time of the adoption of the constitution, 
but twenty years later there were ten million. 

The first mention of the presence of the spinning- 




Textile Industries. 



45 



wheel and the loom occurs in the records of the Massa- 
chusetts colony, in an inventory in 1639, relating to four 
yards of home-made cloth, at six shillings per yard, and 
two spinning-wheels are mentioned in another inventory 
in 1638, the spinning-wheels being set down at three 
shillings. The colonists of New Netherlands could not 
make woolen, linen, or cotton cloth, or weave any other 
textiles, and this prohibition was under heavy penalty, 
any one making such goods being banished and arbi- 



First mention 
of spinning- 
wheel and loom. 




The Hand-Loom. 

trarily punished as perjurers. This was the restriction prohibition of 
of the home government. cloth-making. 

Governor Dudley, of Massachusetts, in writing home 
in 1 63 1, stated that clothes and bedding must be brought 
to the colony until the development of industry enabled 
them to be produced there ; yet a year or two later the 
colonial people, from their small clippings, must have 
commenced the spinning and weaving of • wool, and the 



46 Industrial Evolution of Vie United States. 



ten years following saw emphatic progress in the efforts 
to supply clothing made in the houses of the colonists. 
Hemp and flax were produced in sufficient quantities to 
enable the people to make the clothing they absolutely 
needed ; nevertheless, the farmers gave their preference 
to foreign cloth, which they bought with their own wares. 
Beginning of The domestic manufacture of cloth was not general, but 

the manu- 

facture of it is safe to say that the manufacture of wool in this 

wool. J 

country was practically begun in the period from 1632 to 
1642. 

An event occurred in 1638 which gave the Massachu- 
setts colony quite a start in the woolen industry. This 
came through the expulsion from Yorkshire, England, of 
Pastor Ezekiel Rogers and his flock. These people had 
some capital, and on founding the town of Rowley they 
set up a woolen and fulling-mill.* This little town was 
incorporated in 1639, and in it the homespun industries 
of America were commenced. Quite a number of the 
First fulling- Rogers people were familiar with the manufacture of 
woolens, and the fulling-mill which they built was the 
first one erected in the North American colonies. John 
Pearson was the builder, and the year was 1643. This 
little mill was in operation as late as 1809. Although 
these people came from the woolen districts of England, 
they used in their homes flax and cotton, as well as wool. 
Governor Winthrop, in one of his letters, says that Row- 
ley exceeded all other towns, although the manufacture 
of wool was general. There is a tradition, amounting to 
fact almost, of the erection of a fulling-mill in 1640 at 
Salem. The presence of fulling-mills indicates that the 

* Fulling-mill.— A power machine for fulling and felting felts and woven 
fabrics, to improve their texture by making them thicker, closer, and heavier. 
Such mills operate by means of rollers, stampers, and beaters, of variour 
forms and usually of wood, which beat, roll, and press the fabric in hot sud^ 
and fullers' earth, felting it together till the required texture is obtained. An 
unavoidable result of the process is a reduction in length, in width, and, in the 
case of hats, of size. 



Textile Industries. 



47 



weaving- of cloths was sufficient not only to clothe the 
people in the vicinity but to give a surplus for trade. 

The Massachusetts colonists also profited by the 
troubles which existed in England at this period, on ac- 
count of which there was a less supply of cloths than 
usual ; so the government of the colony made inquiry 
concerning the number of persons who would buy sheep 
and took means to encourage the raising- of flocks. 
Some tide-mills* were erected, notably one at Guilford, 
Conn. Another stimulating incident was the fact that Restrictions of 

, English laws. 

the English government put an export duty of three 
shillings four pence on every piece of woolen broadcloth 
and prohibited the exportation of sheep, wool, and 
woolen yarns from England. This stringent legislation 
led the Massachusetts General Court in 1656 to order the Necessity of 
people of the towns to turn their attention to spinning manufactures, 
and weaving. Home manufactures became an absolute 
necessity, and the other colonies followed the example of 
Massachusetts, fulling-mills being erected here and there. 
Every effort was made to stimulate the woolen industry, 
herdsmen being provided by law or under town orders 
and bounties given for the destruction of wolves. Later 
on woolen manufactories were set up in different places ; 
so that by the time of the adoption of the constitution 
the northern colonies were producing considerable quan- 
tities of woolen cloth, one establishment at Hartford, 
Conn., in the year ending September, 1789, having pro- 
duced 5,000 yards of cloth, some of which was sold at 
five dollars per yard. General Washington visited this Washington's 
particular factory during his tour in the Eastern States in necticut. 
1789, and he writes in his diary that the work seemed to 
be going on with spirit, and that while their broadcloths 

* Tide-mill. — A mill supplied with power by means of a water-wheel oper- 
ated by the tide, either directly in flowing through a tideway, or indirectly in 
flowing out of a tidal basin. 



48 Inditstrial Evolution of the United States. 



Woolen manu- 
facture in 
Virginia. 



In Penn- 
sylvania. 



Introduction 
of spinning- 
wheel irons. 



were not of the first quality, yet they were good. He testi- 
fied also to the quality of coatings, cassimeres, serges, 
and everlastings, and ordered a suit of broadcloth to be 
sent to him at New York. Tradition gives it that in 
making his speech to Congress in January, 1790, he 
wore a full suit of broadcloth made at the Hartford fac- 
tory. Another cloth-dresser at Hartford, Robert Pier- 
pont, in 1789 finished on one press over 8,000 yards of 
cloth. 

Virginia made early attempts to stimulate the manufac- 
ture of woolens, and as far back as 1662 passed laws for 
the encouragement of that industry. Her first fulling- 
mills, however, were not erected until about 1692. Gov- 
ernor Andros, during his administration, made great 
efforts to develop textile manufactures, but his successor, 
Governor Nicholson, was opposed to such efforts, and 
advised Parliament to pass orders prohibiting the making 
of cloth in the colonies. From this it is deducible that 
considerable quantities of domestic cloths were manufac- 
tured — enough, at least, to affect the importation of 
English goods. At this period (the close of the seven- 
teenth century) the imports and exports of Virginia and 
Maryland were greater than those of all the other colonies 
combined. Before the close of the colonial period Vir- 
ginia had fulling-mills in various localities. 

Pennsylvania took action similar to that of her sister 
colonies to encourage the production of woolen goods. 
That state certainly did its share in the early efforts of 
the colonies to produce what they might need for their 
own wear. There were many fulling-mills in the state by 
the middle of the eighteenth century, and broadcloths 
were produced in Philadelphia in the latter half of that 
century. Philadelphia introduced the manufacture of 
spinning-wheel irons, the production of which at the 



Textile Industries. 



49 



close of the colonial period amounted to 1,500 sets, most 
of them being for use in families, and not in woolen 
establishments. Lancaster, Pa. , had erected fulling-mills 
at a very early date, and was the largest inland town in 
the country at the time of the adoption of the constitu- 
tion. It then had 700 families, 234 of which were man- 
ufacturers, including many weavers of woolen, linen, and 
cotton cloth. 

New Jersey, too, came in for her share in the develop- 
ment of textiles, but not at so early a date as some of the in New jersey, 
others, of course. The Quakers who came to Jersey 
from Yorkshire and London, in England, and who settled 
at Salem, Burlington, and other parts of West Jersey, 
about the year 1677, lost no time in commencing the 
manufacture of cloth. A colony was established on the 
Delaware, under a charter from the court of Sweden, 
granted in 1640. By the terms of this charter the 
people were permitted to engage in all manufactures and 
in all commerce, domestic and foreign, and Governor 
Printz, who soon afterward came to the colony, was in- 
structed by his government to do all in his power to pro- 
mote the propagation of sheep, with the view of export- 
ing wool to the home country. After this Swedish com- 
pany came under the proprietary government of Penn- 
sylvania, it is learned from a letter to a Swedish official, 
written in 1693, that the wives and daughters of the col- 
onists employed themselves in spinning wool and flax, 
and many of them in weaving. They had a few sheep, 
eighty in number, probably as early as 1663, and were 
well supplied with wool at the time of the writing of the 
letter just mentioned. 

Rhode Island, the present home of the manufacture of 
some of the best woolen cloths in the country, took J s \^d° de 
active part in developing the woolen trade, and South 



50 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Carolina, by its first Provincial Congress, was urged to 
encourage manufactures,. Premiums were offered for the 
making of wool-cards* and for woolen cloth. A fulling- 
mill was erected in that state before 1790 for dressing 
fine and coarse woolens. This was on Fishing Creek, 




Arkwright's Spinning Machine. 
From the original drawing. 



near the Catawba River, and the spinners and weavers of 
the colony in that vicinity kept the fulling-mill busy in 
dyeing, fulling, and pressing, all these processes being 

* Wool-card. — A brush with wire teeth, used in disentangling fibers of 
wool and laying them parallel to one another preparatory to spinning. In 
hand-cards the wires are short and are passed slantingly through leather, 
which is then naiied upon a board. Two of these brushes are used, one in 
each hand, and in use are drawn past each other, the fibers being between 
them. In the carding machine, which has superseded hand-carding, the 
cards are formed by hard-drawn wire staples, each furnishing two teeth, 
drawn through leather and bent at a certain angle. 



Textile Industries. 



51 



performed in excellent manner by the settlers from Great 
Britain, who were fully conversant therewith. 

What has been said relates almost entirely to the start- 
ing - of the woolen industries. Cotton-spinning- and Cotton-spinning 

and weaving. 

weaving very naturally kept pace with the manufacture 
of woolen cloths. Cotton was an indigenous plant in the 
southern portion of the colonies, and so nature offered 
the opportunity for the utilization of a fiber which con- 
stitutes the basis of the great civilizing cotton industry. 
It is probably true that in the older country the use of Cotton-raising, 
the cotton fiber antedates that of the animal fibers, and 
especially is this true of flax and some of the vegetable 
fibers which require treatment involving more intricate 
processes than cotton before the finished cloth can be 
produced ; but its use was recognized at a very early 
date by the colonists, for when the Pilgrims were earnestly 
trying to produce their first crops of Indian corn cotton 
was being raised by the colonists in Virginia. Purchas, 
the historian, relates that in the year 1621 cotton was 
planted in this country. 

The Massachusetts colonists received their first supply 

r t* 1 1 1 1 First supplies 

irom Barbadoes, in 1633, and some cotton goods were of cotton, 
made up for home wear in the New England colonies 
as early as 1643. South Carolina had cotton under 
cultivation as early as 1664, or it may be two years 
later. If one refers to a work entitled ' * Cotton in 
the Middle States," published in 1862 by Dr. G. 
Emerson, of Philadelphia, he will find that long before 
the Southern States took up the culture of cotton cultivation 
the plant was raised on the eastern shore of Maryland, Maryland and 
in the southern counties of Delaware, and at various Delaware - 
points in the middle colonies ; yet it was regarded as an 
ornamental plant as late as 1736 and many years after, 
and its cultivation was confined to gardens. According 



52 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Decrease of 
cotton culture 
in Maryland 
and Delaware. 



Cotton cultiva- 
tion transferred 
farther south. 



Whitney's saw- 
gin. 



to the work just cited, many families in Maryland who 
came from Sussex County, Delaware, wore clothing 
made of cotton of their own raising, spinning, and weav- 
ing. But the culture of cotton in this particular section 
of the colonies gradually diminished. The Middle 
States could not compete with the more Southern States 
in raising this staple. Mr. Madison, representing Vir- 
ginia in the convention which was held in Annapolis in 
1786 for the purpose of taking under consideration the 
means which could be adopted for recuperating the 
finances of the country, stated it as his opinion that 
' ' from the results of cotton-raising in Talbot County, 
Maryland, and numerous other proofs furnished in Vir- 
ginia, there is no reason to doubt that the United States 
will one day become a great cotton-producing country. ' ' 
From these and other facts which are ascertainable, it 
is clearly seen that the cultivation of cotton which first 
drew the attention of the colonists took place on the pen- 
insula between the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, 
then crossed to western Maryland, thence to Virginia, 
and finally found its home in the far South. No exporta- 
tions of this great staple of any consequence were made 
until the year of the Constitutional Convention — 1787 — 
when Charleston, S. C. , sent three hundred pounds to 
England. There was no reason why the cotton industry 
should not have been established in the colonies on a 
larger scale than it was and at an earlier date, unless it be, 
perhaps, the difficulty which existed of separating the 
cotton from the seed. This process was carried on both 
by hand and by rude machinery — a difficulty which was 
overcome in the opening years of the constitutional 
period by the invention of the saw-gin by Whitney. 



CHAPTER IV. 



textile industries {Concluded). 

In 1774-75 Alexander Hamilton published some pam- 
phlets, in one of which he used the following language : 

With respect to cotton, you do not pretend to deny that a Hamilton's 

sufficient quantity may be produced. Several of the southern views of cotton 
- . . . , • 1 , .... manufacture. 

colonies are so favorable to it that, with due cultivation, in a 
couple of years they would afford enough to clothe the whole 
continent. As to the expense of bringing it by land, the best 
way will be to manufacture it where it grows, and afterwards 
transport it to the other colonies. Upon this plan I apprehend 
the expense would not be greater than to build and equip large 
ships to import the manufactures of Great Britain from thence. 
If we were to turn our attention from external to internal com- 
merce, we would give greater facility and more lasting pros- 
perity to our country than she can possibly have otherwise. 

. . . . If by the necessity of the thing manufactures 
should once be established and take root among us, they will 
pave the way still more to the future grandeur and glory of 
America. 

Another difficulty which prevented the growth of the 
cotton industry along lines equal to the growth of the 
wool manufacture resulted from the peculiar attitude of 
the home country. Prior to the decade of years begin- 
ning with 1760 the cotton cloths of England were made 
in the same way that the woolen cloths were made — that Methods in use 
is, by hand machinery. The colonists used the same by colomsts - 
methods, and thus produced coarse grades of cotton 
cloths. 

53 



54 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Invention of 
cotton 

machinery in 
England. 



During the decade of years from 1760 to 1770 the 
inventive genius of England brought out the wonderful 
series of spinning and weaving machines which revolu- 
tionized the textile industries, but England took great 
pains that none of these machines should reach her col- 
onists ; so, although waking up to the importance of the 
cotton industry at a late period in their history, the col- 
onists made no headway in establishing it in their midst, 
and the colonial period closed with no particular advance 
having been made, and it was only during the earlier 



Hargreaves' Spinning-Jenny. 

years of the succeeding period, beginning with the adop- 
tion of the constitution, that the American people over- 
Efforts to came the existing obstacles. They made great efforts to 
machfneryh" secure English machines, but the legislation of England 
prohibiting the exportation of machines, tools, or plans, 
and even the immigration of men who knew how to build 
machines, presented difficulties which they could not 
overcome. Some of these difficulties aided in bringing 
about a frame of mind which led to a conclusion that 
great efforts must be made to secure industrial independ- 



Textile Industries. 



55 



ence, and the colonists actually attempted to introduce 
spinning- machines as early as 1775. Mr. Aitkin, who 
published the Pennsylvania Magazine, brought out in the 
year just named a cut of what he called "a new in- Spinning 

* J . machinery. 

vented machine for spinning of wool or cotton," and he 
said in a note accompanying the cut that he had seen 
the machine perform and was convinced of its usefulness. 
Mr. Christopher Tully was the maker of the Philadelphia 
machine, but whether it had anything to do with the 
setting up of a manufactory in that city for the produc- 
tion of woolen, cotton, and linen goods, in which the 
machine was used, it is impossible to determine ; but the 
factory was commenced in 1775, and the efforts of the 
association which erected it constitute the first actual at- 
tempt to manufacture cotton goods by new methods in 
the United States. 

The provinces urged the manufacture of textile ma- 
chinery, cotton-cards, etc., and in 1775 there was under- 
taken at Norwich, Conn., the manufacture of iron wire Card teeth, 
for the making of cotton and wool- cards. Card teeth 
were made by hand in 1777 by one Oliver Evans, 
of Philadelphia, and Jeremiah Wilkinson, of Cumber- 
land, R. I., was engaged in the manufacture of hand- 
cards. Evans invented a machine by which he could 
turn them out at the rate of 1 , 500 per minute. So be- 
fore the Revolution the cotton industry was fairly well 
under way. The war brought many appeals from Con- Effect of war 
gress to increase the supply of wool and other materials SctuS?! manU " 
and for the expansion of the manufacture of cloth. The 
armies needed clothing, and Congress had to rely upon 
the people of the colonies to supply it. 

While the first attempt to manufacture cotton goods Early attempts 
on any scale occurred in Philadelphia, the second iSS^*™"* 
attempt was made in Worcester, Mass., in 1780, and a 



56 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



spinning-jenny* on the English pattern was procured. 
This machine and that in use at Philadelphia were in 
all probability brought over prior to the legislation of 
Great Britain which prohibited their exportation from 
that country, for the accounts of manufactures nowhere 




Crompton's Mule-Jenny (specification drawing). 



Bntjshprohi- gi V e any evidence of any other English-made machines 
having been used in the United States at any time prior 
to those just mentioned. The use of textile machinery 
belongs to the period following the Revolution. 

The use of flax and hemp by the colonists was very 



* Spinning-jenny. — A machine for spinning wool or cotton. It has a series 
of vertical spindles, each of which is supplied with roving from a separate 
spool, and has a clasping and traversing mechanism by means of which the 
operator is enabled to clasp and draw out all the roving or roll simultaneously 
during the operation of twisting, and to feed the twisted threads to the 
spindles when winding on — ihe whole operation being almost exactly like 
hand-spinning, except that a large number of rovings are operated upon in- 
stead of a single one. 

Spinning-mule.— A machine invented by Samuel Crompton, in which the 
rovings are delivered from a series of sets of drawing-rollers to spindles 
placed on a carriage which travels away from the rollers while the thread is 
being twisted, and returns toward the rollers while the thread is being wound. 
It draws, stretches, and twists at one operation. So named because it was a 
combination of the drawing-rollers of Arkwright and the jenny of Hargreaves. 

Spinning-jack.— A device for twisting and winding a sliver as it comes 
from the drawing-rollers. It is placed in the can, in which it rotates, the 
sliver being wound on a bobbin. 



Textile Industries. 



57 



general. They produced a coarse kind of mixed fab- 
rics in which linen or hemp thread largely entered as 
material. Linen subserved nearly all the purposes for General use of 
which cotton is now employed, and for this reason the inen " 
cultivation of flax and hemp plants received great atten- 
tion.* The linens were of very coarse texture. The 
kerseys, linsey-woolseys, serges, and druggets consisted 
of wool variously combined with flax or tow, and formed 
the outer clothing of a large part of the population dur- 
ing the colder season. Hempen cloth and linen of differ- 
ent degrees of fineness, from the coarsest tow-cloth to the 
finest holland, constituted the principal wearing apparel, 
outward and inward. The inner garments and the table 
and bed linen of nearly all classes were almost entirely 
supplied from the serviceable products of the household 
industry. The materials were mostly grown upon the 
farms of the planters, and the breaking and neckline of Methods of 

r . spuming flax. 

the flax were done by the men, while the carding, spin- 
ning, weaving, bleaching, and dyeing were performed by 
the wives and daughters of the planters, the women 
taking great pride in the products of their industry. 
The laborers dressed in home-made goods of hemp or Laborer's dres* 
flax, and coats, or doublets, and breeches of leather or 
buckskin were also worn. Felt hats, coarse leather 
shoes, with brass buckles, and sometimes with wooden 
heels, were part of the equipment of the workingmen. 

The Scotch- Irish of New Hampshire undertook to 
manufacture linen goods, for they were familiar with this 
industry. The foot-wheel was used by them for spinning 
the flax, and these men, wherever they were, undertook 
to improve the linen manufacture. They introduced a 
better knowledge of the cultivation and manufacture of 
flax and linen and of spinning flax. Most of the proc- 

* See Bishop's ' ' History of American Manufactures." 



5* 



Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



esses of manufacture were manual operations, only crude 
and imperfect implements being used, and much of the 
woolen cloth was worn without shearing, pressing, or 
any other finish. As a result of the efforts of the 
Scotch-Irish, a public meeting was called in Boston, 
when a committee was appointed to consider the pro- 
spinning school priety of establishing ' ' a spinning school or schools for 
the instruction of the children of the town."* A large, 
handsome brick building was erected on the east side of 
what was Long Acre, now known as Tremont Street, near 
Hamilton Place. At the opening an immense concourse 
assembled, and the women of Boston, rich and poor, 
appeared on the Common with their spinning-wheels, 
vying with each other in the use of the instrument. Sub- 
scriptions were raised for the support of the project, and 
the Assembly, in 1737, laid a tax on carriages and other 
luxuries for the maintenance of the institution. After a 
few years of active work the building was abandoned, 
and it was afterward used as a manufactory for worsted 
hose, metal buttons, etc. 

Hon. Daniel Oliver started a spinning school at Bos- 
ton about the same time, for the employment of the 

Tublic spinning poor. 

The city of New York in 1734 passed an ordinance 
for the erection of a poorhouse, which was furnished 
with spinning-wheels, leather and tools for shoemakers, 
knitting-needles, flax, etc., for the employment of the 
inmates. 

Linen manufacture prospered fairly well in the other 
colonies, the cultivation of flax and hemp being much 
attended to in Pennsylvania, where the German and Irish 
people had settled in large numbers. These manufac- 



New York. 



Linen 

manufactures. 



* For an account of this experiment recourse has been had to Bishop's ex- 
cellent " History of American Manufactures," 



Textile Industries. 



59 



tures did not flourish so well in the South, because, 
while the soil was well adapted for hemp and flax, the 
profits of tobacco culture discouraged other industries ; 
so the clothing of the southern colonies, as linen, woolen, 
silk, hats, and even leather, came from the old country. 
The expense of labor probably had something to do pj^^jgj" 
with these matters, because the raising, dressing, and 
manufacture of flax and hemp involved a large amount 
of labor simply to bring the material into such shape 
that thread could be made of it. The scarcity of labor 
hindered manufactures in all the colonies. Some forms 
of industry, of course, afforded the means of purchasing 
foreign merchandise on fairly easy terms, thus reducing 
the inducement to undertake the manufacture of goods. 
This operated to retard the development of the textile 
industries, as well as others. The efforts to cultivate 
silk and to make silk goods met with but little success. 
Some of the colonists brought with them a knowledge of 
silk-raising and silk manufacture, but the accounts of Silk, 
this industry are so meager that one cannot state posi- 
tively the extent to which it was developed. 

Indigo was introduced and helped to make the textile 
industries more profitable and easy, but they could not 
compete with agriculture, commerce, and the fisheries, 
which were the great strong arms of the colonies. 

The close of the first century of the colonies found 
them hampered by the laws of the mother-country. Manufacturers 
While the first attempts to make a portion of their own iS^? ered by 
clothing had not drawn much attention to the colonists 
from English merchants and manufacturers, their subse- 
quent efforts did draw such attention, and on account of 
complaints that were made to the Board of Trade, that 
wool and woolen manufactures of Ireland and the North 
American plantations were being exported to foreign 



6o Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



markets formerly supplied by England, the British Par- 
English prohib- li am ent passed a law in 1699 which for the first time 

ltive measures. r ' 

recognized such manufactures in the colonies. This act, 
known as 10 and 11 Wm. III., c. 10, provided that 
' 'after the first day of December, 1699, no wool, wool- 
fels, yarn, cloth, or woolen manufactures of the English 
plantations in America shall be shipped in any of the 
said English plantations, or otherwise loaden, in order 
to be transported thence to any place whatsoever, under 
the penalty of forfeiting ship and cargo, and ,£500 fine 
for each offense ; and the Governors of the Plantations 
and Officers of Customs and Revenue there are to see 
this Act, as it relates to the plantations, duly executed." 
The total population of the American colonies when this 
prohibition was placed upon them was probably about 
260,000. Under such prohibitions the struggle was a 
hard one, and with courage, persistence, and ingenuity 
the colonists went on in their way ; yet when the eigh- 
teenth century drew to a close and their political inde- 
pendence of Great Britain had been won and a new con- 
stitution adopted, the country found itself still subject to 
Great Britain in most industrial matters. 



CHAPTER V. 



PRINTING AND PUBLISHING. 



Industry is always allied to the diffusion of knowl- 
edge ; so its development must necessarily require the 
printing press. Primitive wants are supplied that com- 



Alliance of 
industry and 
knowledge. 




Benjamin Franklin. 

fort may be secured, but general knowledge and the provision for 

evolution of industry must go hand in hand ; so the first educatlon - 
colonists, while working diligently to demonstrate their 

61 



62 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



First press. 



First printed 
matter. 



First book. 



First original 
composition. 



Second press. 



capacity, not only to provide their wants, but to export 
their products, had regard for posterity, and provided 
at an early day for the best interests of education and 
the diffusion of knowledge. 

The first printing press in the country was established 
at Cambridge, Mass., in 1639, provision having been 
made for a college at that place the year before. The 
Virginia colonists had made provision for a college at an 
earlier date, 16 19, but the plans of the Virginians were 
not allowed to be carried out. The first issue of any 
printed matter was from the Cambridge press, in January, 
1639, when a small pamphlet, "The Freeman's Oath," 
was printed.* There was brought out an almanac for 
the year 1639 from the same press, while in 1640 the 
first book appeared. It was called 1 ' The Bay Psalm 
Book." It went through many editions, being a popu- 
lar work, both in America and England, and in the 
latter country an edition was published soon after its 
appearance in the colonies, the latest edition being 
printed in 1754. 

In 1640 Mrs. Anne Bradstreet, the wife of Simon 
Bradstreet, who afterward became governor of Massa- 
chusetts, and who was a daughter of the celebrated 
Thomas Dudley, brought out a volume of poems, which 
was the first original composition printed in America. 

The second press which was brought into use in the 
colonies was sent over in 1655, accompanied with all the 
necessary materials for printing. This press was designed 
particularly for printing the Bible and other books in 
aboriginal tongues and for the purpose of aiding Rev. 
John Eliot in his missionary work with the Indians. 

That great aid to the spread of printed information, the 



* Isaiah Thomas, " The History of Printing in America," Worcester, Mass., 
1810, 



Printing and Publishing. 



63 



copyright, was first applied in 1672, under the General 
Court of Massachusetts, when John Usher, a bookseller, 
was given the privilege of publishing a revised edition of 
the laws of the colony. 

A second press was set up at Boston by one John 
Foster, in 1674, and he had the honor of printing the 
first book, so far as known, ever printed in that town. 

The third printing press which the colonies could Thir( ip ress 
boast, and the very first that was erected outside of the 
Massachusetts colony, was set up in Philadelphia, in the 
year 16S6, by William Bradford. This was at a place 
now known as Kensington. Some of the authorities give 
it that his earliest publication was an almanac for the year 
16S7. 

New York's first press was established in 1693, and New York's 
this was by the same Bradford who had set up the press first press ' 
in Philadelphia in 16S6. Bradford, after his removal to 
New York, was appointed printer to the government, 
being allowed ^50 from the public treasury. He held 
this situation for nearly thirty years, and was also during 
the same period public printer for the province of New 
York. 

The first attempt to publish a newspaper in the First 
colonies occurred at Boston on September 25, 1690, news P a P er - 
when a sheet entitled Publick Occurrences, both Foreign 
and Domestick, appeared. This publication, which was 
printed by Richard Pierce and published by Benjamin 
Harris, and which was to have been issued monthly, 
never went beyond the first number, being suppressed 
by the government. 

The first paper of which there is any record of its D . t . 

r r J Printing ui 

having gone beyond the first number was the News- Maryland. 
.Letter, published on April 24, 1704, by one Green, in 
Boston, for John Campbell, postmaster of that town. 



64 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Second news- 
paper in the 
colonies. 



South Carolina. 



Rhode Island. 



New 

Hampshire. 
North Carolina. 



Delaware. 



Georgia. 



The second newspaper was the Boston Gazette, issued in 
Boston. This was printed by James Franklin, a brother 
of Benjamin Franklin, and was published December 21, 
1719. 

The New York Gazette was published October 16, 
1725, by the Bradford already referred to. 

The first regular printing done in Maryland was by 
William Parks, in 1727 or 1728. A press had been set 
up at Annapolis in 1726, and on this Parks printed a 
complete collection of the laws of Maryland. The next 
year he began the publication of the Maryland Gazette. 
Parks also established a press at Williamsburg, Va. , in 
1729, and did the first printing in that colony. 

South Carolina's first press was sat up at Charleston, 
by Eleazer Phillips, of Boston, in 1730. 

Rhode Island's first press was at Newport, and was 
established by Benjamin Franklin's brother James, in 
1732. 

Other colonies had presses at later dates — New Hamp- 
shire in 1756 ; and North Carolina in 1754-55, through 
the establishment of a press at Newbern, by James Davis. 

Delaware's first press was established at Wilmington 
in 1 76 1, by James Adams. 

Georgia came into the printing business the last of the 
old states, a press being set up at Savannah in 1762, by 
James Johnson. 

The great rival towns for printing were Philadelphia 
and Boston, the publishing business of the two cities 
being nearly equal prior to the Revolution. Benjamin 
Franklin, America's greatest typographer, shared the suc- 
cesses of the two cities. Born in Boston, and receiving 
his first instructions in the art of printing in the estab- 
lishment of his brother James, he carried his knowledge 
to Philadelphia and gave that city his illustrious services, 



Printing and Publishing. 



&5 



making 



his skill and 
colonies and the 



his industry, wisdom, and talent 
reputation known throughout all the 
home country. 

An enterprising undertaking for the primitive colonial 
press was the bringing out of the first German Bible. 
This was printed at Germantown, Pa., in 1743, by Chris- 
topher Saur, and was the first Bible printed for the Euro- 
pean population in the American colonies. Three years' 
labor had been spent upon the work, which was of quarto 
form, containing 1,272 pages. It was the heaviest pub- 
lication which 
had been issued 
from the press in 
Pennsylvania. 

The first Amer- 
ican Bible in the 
English language 
was carried 
through the press 
at Boston in a 
private way by 
Kneel and and 
Green, about the 
year 1752. It was 
chiefly made by 
Daniel Hench- 
man, probably 
the most flourishing bookseller of the American colonies 
prior to the Revolution. He it was who built the first 
paper-mill in New England, although the first paper-mill 
erected in the American colonies was built in Pennsyl- 
vania, the date of its erection not being clearly ascertain- 
able. 

The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle for 




The Franklin Press. 



First Bible 
printed in 
America. 



First Bible in 
English. 



First paper-mill 
in the American 
colonies. 



66 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



all the British Plantations in America was the first 
journal having a literary character published in this 
country. This was in 1741, the publication being a duo- 
decimo monthly, at twelve shillings a year. Benjamin 
Franklin was the printer and editor. It had but a short 
life, being published only six months. After Franklin 
brought out his magazine John Welbe published The 
American Magazine in opposition to Franklin, but 
Welbe' s enterprise did not continue long. 
First daily The Pennsylvania Packet, or General Advertiser, was 

Am V encaf r m the first daily newspaper published in America. This 
was published in Philadelphia, and first appeared as a 
weekly in November, 1771, being printed by John Dunlap. 

The Philadelphia Gazette, established in Philadelphia 
in 1788 by Samuel Relf, was the first daily evening 
paper. 

At the breaking out of the Revolution there were nine 
Permsyivania^t newspapers in Pennsylvania, of which six in English and 
tion! ° f Revolu " one in German were published in Philadelphia, one in 
German at Germantown, and one in English and Ger- 
man at Lancaster, 
in Massachu- At ^is P er i°d there were seven newspapers published 
setts - in Massachusetts, of which five were at Boston, one at 

Salem, and one at Newburyport. Connecticut had four 
and Rhode Island one, while New Hampshire could claim 
but one, which was published at Portsmouth. There 
were, therefore, thirteen newspapers in New England at 
that time. 

There were four newspapers published in the province 
of New York at the date named, three in the city of New 
York and one at Albany. Maryland had two, one at 
Annapolis and one at Baltimore. There were two in the 
colony of Virginia, two in North Carolina, three in South 
Carolina, and one in Georgia. 



In New York. 



Printing and Publishing. 



6 7 



The colonists could therefore boast, at the time of 
their movement against the mother-country, of thirty- JJjjjlJSra in 
seven newspapers. Many of the efforts to establish peri- the colonles « 
odicals in the colonies were failures, the entire number 
between 1704 and 1775 being less than one hundred, of 
which three fourths were newspaper sheets and the bal- 
ance magazines of some kind or form. Twenty-two of 
the whole number were begun in Massachusetts and four- 
teen in other Xew England states. Pennsylvania had 
twenty-two, New York sixteen, and the other colonies or 
provinces twenty-two. Many of them, however, had but 
a brief existence, while some continued for a respectable 
period, exerting a varied influence on the public mind. 
Materials were costly and were mostly imported ; the 
price of labor was high and the country sparsely settled, High price of 
so that but small circulations could be secured, and a l * hor ' . , 

' Small circula- 

general taste and leisure for reading had not been fully tions - 
cultivated. Another obstacle which the printers and pub- 
lishers were obliged to meet during the latter part of the 
colonial period was the legislation of the mother-country. 

Under the Stamp Act of March, 1765, all pamphlets 
and newspapers were subject to a duty of one half- tions 
penny, and all such, after November 1st of that year, 
were required to be printed on stamped paper. A pub- 
lication not exceeding six sheets was subjected to a tax 
of two shillings, and the same tax was imposed upon all 
advertisements. Two pence a year was fixed for almanacs, 
if printed on one side of a sheet, and four pence on all 
others. Dr. Franklin was in London at the time of the 
passage of the act, having been sent there as colonial 
agent. In a well-known letter referring to this act, 
Franklin says : " The sun of liberty is set ; you must 
light up the lamps of industry and economy." The 
party to whom he wrote responded : "Be assured we 



Tax on publica- 



68 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Obstacles in 
the way of 
printing. 



Printing and 

bookselling 

combined. 



Booksellers in 
New England, 
New York, etc. 



shall light torches of quite another sort. ' ' The act of 
March, 1765, was repealed in 1766, but in 1767 Parlia- 
ment made another law imposing a duty on paper as well 
as some other articles. Much embarrassment was ex- 
perienced under the workings of this last act. On the 
other hand, later on the Continental Congress, which 
met in September, 1774, at Philadelphia, forbade printers 
to execute any printing for the adherents of the British 
administration. So the printing business of the colonies 
was hedged in, like most other industries, and printers 
had to overcome not only great natural but artificial and 
political barriers. 

All these causes made literary enterprises somewhat 
dubious. The science and skill displayed in advertising 
in modern times were not thought of in colonial days. 
The whole number of printing presses in the country 
prior to the Revolution could not have been much above 
forty. The printers mostly combined bookselling with 
their business, while not a few engaged in the selling 
of groceries, fancy articles, and a general assortment 
of goods. Some, indeed, were large dealers in general 
merchandise, keeping for sale not only domestic but 
imported books. The staple supply of the colonial 
bookstores consisted of works on law, medicine, history, 
and some of the minor departments of science and 
general knowledge. Ninety-two booksellers had car- 
ried on business in Boston prior to 1775, while eighteen 
houses were engaged in like business in other parts of 
New England. The names of a dozen concerns appear 
for New York, and thirty-eight for Philadelphia, while 
Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia added six to the 
list. This list, however, is far from complete, but it in- 
dicates the development of a business which has become 
in our day one of enormous proportions. 



Printing and Publishing. 



69 



Some of the early colonial printers undertook the 
business of bookbinding in connection with their other Bookbinding, 
work, the first attempts in this direction being upon 
Eliot's Indian Bible, as early as 1663. The edition of 
the Psalms, which has been mentioned, was bound in 
parchment. More than a third of all the booksellers who 
carried on business in Boston had binderies of their own. 
This feature of the business was not so general in the 
other colonies, for in New York there were but few who 
did binding in connection with their business as book- 
sellers or printers. In Philadelphia there were several 
who carried on this feature of the book business, and in 
Charleston, of the three booksellers there at the close of 
the colonial period, two executed their own binding. 

In connection with these brief historical facts a ques- 

1 Literary char- 

tion might arise as to the literary character of the col- acterofthe 

colonists. 

onists. There were many persons of good repute for 
their learning and ability who sustained this character. 
Many of them had been educated in European uni- 
versities. Some of these names are found in the ' ' Trans- 
actions ' ' of the Royal Society of London and those of the 
American Philosophical Society. The Bibliotheca Amer- 
icana, in 1789, gives us a pretty clear insight as to the 
character of some of these men, and from their names 
and their calling the progress made in literature and in 
various departments of knowledge and art is learned. 
The following quotation is taken from the Bibliotheca 
Americana : 

The people of North America have now professors in every 
art and science, with adequate salaries ; and, whatever they 
may want to import, men of eminence in literature are not of 
the number. At the head of their philosophers and politicians, 
stands the venerable Franklin. In the first class, the ingenious 
Lorimer must not be forgotten. In mathematics, the self- 
taught Rittenhouse. In divinity, Weatherspoon. In history, 



70 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



criticism, and policy, the modern Tacitus (Payne). In poetry, 
Barlow, Smith, and Ray. In painting, West. In law and 
oratory — how shall I enumerate them? Take the first class. 
In Georgia, George Walton ; German Baker, in Virginia ; Jen- 
nings, in Maryland ; Lewis, Bradford, and Chambers, in Penn- 
sylvania ; Boudinot, in Jersey ; Hamilton and Bird, in New 
York ; Johnson, in Connecticut ; and Parsons, in Massachusetts. 



CHAPTER VI. 



SAWMILLS. BUILDINGS AND BUILDING MATERIALS. 

Many industries other than those already referred to 
were planted by the colonists. Sawmills and the manu- 
facture of lumber gave opportunity for the employment 
of labor and the exportation of the products of the 
forest. As seen in a former chapter, the first efforts of sawmills 

1 stimulate 

the colonists outside of raising food were expended in exportation. 

the manufacture of clapboards for exportation, and both 

the Virginia and the Plymouth settlements sent home 

cargoes of these articles. They were made by hand, 

for in those early days there were no other means of 

manufacturing. Naturally, the abundance of timber led 

to the erection of crude sawmills. Artisans were sent as ^ , 

crude saw- 
early as 1620 to Virginia to set up sawmills, so that the mills - 

making of boards and clapboards, which had been ac- 
complished by hand-labor as early as 1609, might be 
expanded and the exports increased. When it is known 
that a man could easily make by hand 15,000 clapboards 
or pipe-staves in a year, which were worth in the colo- 
nies £\ per thousand and in the Canaries £20, it will 
be understood how desirable it was to have sawmills, and 
yet as late as 1650, when the value of clapboards was 
that just stated, there was no sawmill in Virginia, nor 
does the record show the erection of any permanent 
mills for some years after that date. For the Carolinas 
and Georgia, however, the accounts are clearer, although 
the dates of the erection of the first mills are not ascer- 

71 



72 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Encouragement 
of in South. 



First sawmills 
in New 
England. 



In Rhode 
Island and 
Connecticut. 



In Delaware 
and New 
Jersey. 



tainable. Acts were passed in South Carolina as early 
as 1 69 1 for the encouragement of the erection of engines 
for propagating the staples of that province, and a few- 
years later (in 17 12) for encouraging the building of 
sawmills and other mechanic engines ; yet the sawmill 
does not appear to have come into extensive requisition 
in Carolina during colonial times. 

Turning to the northern colonies, we find that the first 
sawmill erected in New England was in New Hampshire, 
near what is now known as Portsmouth, where a sawmill 
was built prior to the year 1635 ; at least this is the first 
distinct account found of a sawmill in New England. 
Among the skilful mechanics sent to the colonies in 
1628-29 were those who knew how to erect and operate 
sawmills. Some accounts give it that one was built in 
1633, and mention is made of mills generally at even 
earlier dates, but they have not been described. But 
well-authenticated accounts indicate that just prior to 
1635 a sawmill was erected, as stated. During the first 
fifty years after the settlement at Plymouth sawmills were 
erected in different parts of New England, the many 
streams offering facilities for running them, and before 
the century expired saw and grist-mills were found at 
convenient points in most of the northern colonies, and 
in fair proportion in the others. Rhode Island, Con- 
necticut, and New York engaged in this work, and in 
some places wind sawmills were erected, an account of 
the latter colony, published in 1708, relating that a 
Dutch-built mill to saw timber would do more work in 
an hour than fifty men in two days. Sawmills were also 
erected in Delaware, while New Jersey found it essential 
to have mills of her own. There seems to be no infor- 
mation, however, concerning the introduction of saw- 
mills in Maryland ; but water-mills, for grinding corn, 



Sawmills. — Buildings and Building Materials. 73 



were erected in that colony by public subscription in In Mary i an 
1639. In many places grist-mills were built alongside of 
sawmills in order that the same power which moved the 
one might be utilized in moving the other. 

The product of the sawmill was considerable, the product of 
official value of different kinds of lumber exported from sawmllls - 
all the colonies in 1770 being $686,588. These exports 




Plymouth, 1621. 



consisted of boards, plank, scantling, timber for masts, Exports 
spars, staves, headings, hoops, and poles. After the close lumber, 
of the colonial period (in 1792) there were exported 
65,846,024 feet of lumber, 80,813,357 shingles, 32,039,- 
707 hoops, staves, and headings, while of timber, con- 
sisting of ship and other timbers, frames of houses, etc., 
large quantities were sent out. 

The primitive development of the lumber industry 
naturally closes with the colonial period, for when the 
next period opened a new power had arisen and a new 
element grown into the development of industry — 



74 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Use of wind- 
mills. 



Exports of 
cereals. 



Early 
dwellings. 



Domestic 
architecture. 



steam ; but the account of the grist and flour-mills, 
necessities to the existence of the people, can only be 
told in detail. In general it may be said that nearly 
all of the colonies erected windmills for the grinding 
of grain — all of the colonies, or nearly all of them, 
encouraging the industry — and while the colonists were 
exporting very considerable quantities of lumber, as just 
stated, which, of course, were over and above their own 
wants, they had succeeded, at the close of that particular 
period in our history, in sending abroad large quantities 
of flour and other bread-stuffs, the exports from Phila- 
delphia alone amounting in 1789 to 369,668 barrels of 
flour. Some of the mills, especially those in operation 
near Philadelphia, made not only bolted flour, but 
ground chocolate, snuff, hair-powder, and mustard, and 
pressed and cut tobacco, by water-power. The total 
exports of bread-stuffs from all of the colonies cannot be 
stated for the year closing the colonial period, but the 
total export of flour in 1791 was 619,681 barrels, be- 
sides which there were sent abroad over 1,000,000 
bushels of wheat. 

The first habitations of the colonists were naturally 
crude affairs. They had plenty of timber with which to 
build their houses, but they had to wait for other build- 
ing materials before any ornamental buildings or those 
having anything that might be called artificial finish 
could be erected. Log houses and stockades — buildings 
erected of crude hewn timber — were all that could be ob- 
tained. The progress of social life is marked as much, 
if not more, by domestic architecture as by almost any 
other line, except, it may be, the textile industry. So 
the first dwellings of the colonists could claim but little 
advance over the primitive wigwams of the savages, and, 
in fact, in many cases were simply temporary huts, like 



Sawmills. — Buildings and Building Materials. 75 



the huts of the savages. The Indian huts had thatched 
roofs and walls, with warm mats hanging about, and 
were, perhaps, in the inclement northern climate, more 
comfortable than the dwellings of the white people. 

The transition marks one of the clearly-defined features 
of industrial development, and this takes the dwellings 
from the rude habitation to the capacious frame house 
and to the mansion of stone or brick — accomplishments 
secured only by much toil and patience and years of 
waiting. When a people pass beyond the rude hut the 
development of many features of industry begins, and 
the manufacture of building materials and of everything 
that can be used in adorning dwellings becomes a neces- 
sity. Our forefathers were not of a class who were will- 
ing to dwell always in log cabins. The log cabin is a 
temporary habitation, and has no relation to future de- 
velopment, except as a temporary convenience. When 
the erection of dwell- 
ings which shall last 
for years begins, archi- 
tecture, however prim- 
itive, must be culti- 
vated, that the dwell- 
ings may represent the 
taste and the intel- 
ligent progress of the 
people building them. 
So the manufacture of 
boards, brick, lime, and 
everything entering 
into the building trades 
must be provided. It has been seen how the sawmill 
grew and developed in the colonial days, furnishing one 
of the profitable branches of business, both through the 




The. First Church Erected in 
Connecticut. Hartford, 1638. 



Development of 
dwellings. 



Dwellings 
represent 
intelligent 
progress. 



76 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Stone and 
bricks. 



Virginia first 
to make bricks. 



Limestone and 
marble. 



First brick 
house in 
Massachusetts. 



In Plymouth. 



supply of the colonists and the manufacture of lumber 
for exportation. 

The first stone and bricks which were used in the 
colonies were brought from England, and were chiefly 
used in the building of fireplaces. Ten thousand bricks 
were imported by Massachusetts in 1629. Imported 
bricks were also used in the erection of dwellings, and 
there are houses in different parts of the original terri- 
tory whose owners now boast of the fact that the bricks 
used in their construction were brought from England. 

Virginia was the first colony to make bricks. This 
occurred as early as 161 2. The first brick-kiln in New 
England was set up at Salem, Mass., in the year 1629, 
the same year in which a sawmill was started. 

The discovery of limestone and marble was made at 
an early time, for in the year just named (1629) 
limestone, freestone, and marble were found to exist 
in the eastern part of the Massachusetts colony. The 
first brick house in Massachusetts, probably, was built 
in Boston in 1638, as near as the records allow the 
mention of a particular date. A brick watch-house 
was built on Fort Hill, in Plymouth, in 1643. The 
bricks for this were furnished at eleven shillings 
per thousand. Some writers refer to the fact that 
as early as 1647 lime, brick, and tile-making were 
among the independent trades that were pursued in New 
England. The town of Medford, on the Mystic River, 
the town being called Mystic at that time, had some 
brickyards and sent the product to Boston. Mention is 
found of spacious houses, having brick, tile, slate, and 
stone settings, existing in colonial towns in the fifties 
of the seventeenth century, and as early as 1667 the 
Massachusetts General Court undertook the regulation 
of the size and manufacture of bricks. Ten years later 



Sazi^nills. — Buildings and Building Materials. 77 



a brick college building was erected at Cambridge, while 
the first brick meeting-house was erected in 1694, to 
take the place of a wooden one in Brattle Street in Bos- 
ton. Brick-kilns were started in the Maine district pre- 
vious to 1675, but most of the towns were supplied with 
wooden dwellings and buildings. 

Under the Dutch, many of the buildings in New York Brick buildings 
were made of bricks, but the material was imported from ln New Y ork " 
Holland. A church edifice was erected in 1642, of stone. 

Some of the early buildings in Xew Jersey were con- in New jersey, 
structed partly of bricks, but mostly of split trees, the 
buildings having the appearance of stockades, although 
they were covered with shingles and plastered inside. 
Barns built in this way cost about $25 each. Farm- 
houses were built in a very cheap manner, stone being 
used for the chimneys. In 1721 freestone was quarried 
at Newark — probably the first in the country. Its value 
was recognized, and it was sent to neighboring colonies. 
William Penn's manor-house, which was situated a few 
miles above Bristol, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was 
built of bricks, and according to his own statement cost 
over ^5,000. The materials, however, were largely 
brought from England. 

The southern colonies do not seem to have developed i n southern 
much in the way of brickmaking or stone-cutting ; yet, touns- 
while wooden buildings were largely used in the Caro- 
linas and other southern colonies, there were near the 
close of the colonial period some spacious brick houses 
in southern towns. They had a very superior quality 
of clay, and the manufacture of potters' ware was com- 
menced about the middle of the eighteenth century. So, 
as the ambition of the colonists grew relative to their 
habitations, the industries necessary to meet the ambition 
developed accordingly, and not only was the production 



78 Indiistrial Evolution of the United States. 



Exportation of 
bricks. 



Glassmaking. 



First in 
Virginia. 



First in north- 
ern colonies. 



of bricks at the close of the colonial period equal to the 
demand for home consumption, but small exportations 
were made. These exportations were chiefly to the 
West Indies. 

While bricks, stone, and lime were produced, the 
necessity for having glass made at home was felt. Some 
of the artisans sent to Virginia made an attempt to pro- 
duce glass as early as 1609. It was an expensive article 
to import, on account of the breakage which was likely to 
occur. This fact stimulated the colonists to efforts to 
produce their own glass, but another and a more curious 
cause was the facility with which glass trinkets, beads, 
etc., could be used with the Indians in trading for furs, 
skins, and lands ; so glassmaking was one of the earliest 
industries established in this country, and the first of 
these, as stated, was in Virginia in 1609, when a glass 
furnace was erected about a mile from Jamestown. In 
all probability this was the very first manufactory of any 
kind erected in this country. The business was prose- 
cuted with some success, but the glass enterprise was 
conducted under difficulties. The fuel and the alkaline 
salts required, while cheap, necessitated the employment 
of labor, which was very scarce, and labor was the chief 
cost of glassmaking. 

The first glass that was made in the northern colonies 
was produced in Braintree, Mass., at a village called 
Germantown, but glass bottles were the only articles 
made. The first glass works in that colony were com- 
menced in Salem, Mass., about 1639, and the persons 
interested in this undertaking were granted several acres 
of ground for the purpose of promoting the manufac- 
ture. It should be understood that window-glass and 
even mirrors and glassware were not common in England 
fifty years before the settlement of the colonies, for as late as 



Sawmills. — Buildings and Building Materials. 79 



1 66 1 country houses in some parts of Great Britain had 
no glass windows, and even ambitious palaces were but 
partly supplied with glazing. Few attempts were made 
to introduce the extensive manufacture of glass in col- 
onies other than those named. On Manhattan Island Giassmaking in 

, f 111 New York and 

there were some glassmakers among the early settlers, Pennsylvania. 

and one or two attempts were made in Pennsylvania 

prior to 1700, and between that time and the adoption 

of the constitution there were quite a number of works 

erected here and there ; but it cannot be said that there 

was very much progress made prior to the Revolution. 

Although the demand increased and the use of glass had 

. , .... Scarcity of 

become an almost universal necessity, it was a scarce glass during 
article during the War of Independence, the most of that 
used prior thereto having been brought from the old 
country. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE IRON INDUSTRY. 



Iron ore in 
Virginia. 



In northern 
colonies. 



Metals were essential in the building trades as well 
as for domestic purposes. The colonists, however, did 
not have much knowledge either of the working or of 
the uses of iron. They had expected to find great 
quantities of the precious metals. At the time America 
was colonized the use of iron was increasing greatly in 
the old country. Information was received by the coun- 
cil in London, in 1610, that iron ore existed in Virginia 
and that it had been found even upon the surface of the 
ground. This, it is stated, had been tested in England 
and found to be of excellent quality. In 161 9 workmen 
familiar with the manufacture of iron, to the number of 
one hundred and fifty, were sent to Virginia for the 
avowed purpose of erecting iron works, and smelting 
furnaces were erected on Falling Creek, a branch of 
James River, in that year, but in May, 1622, the works 
were destroyed by the Indians, and a general massacre 
of the workmen and their families occurred. The In- 
dians seemed to have a very jealous fear of works, 
whether for the manufacture of iron or for other pur- 
poses. The destruction of the Virginia works and the 
slaughter of the people connected therewith of course 
discouraged the colonists, and no other attempt at the 
production of iron was made for several years. 

In the northern colonies the search for iron ore had 
been carried on, and it had been discovered in some 



The Iron Industry. 



81 



parts of the Massachusetts colony as early as 1630, but 
no attempt was made to produce iron until some fifteen 
years later. Bog-iron ore* was discovered in Lynn, 
where numerous peat-bogs were found, and this bog- Bog ore in 
iron ore supplied the first furnaces of the Massachusetts 
colony, whose first attempts to manufacture iron were 
made in Lynn or its vicinity. The colonists were suffering 
from a scarcity of iron both for use in the manufacture 
of wares and tools and for the erection of their build- 
ings. To supply this demand furnaces were started, as 
stated. Later on attempts were made at Braintree, and 
a grant was secured for the encouragement of iron works 
to be set up there. This grant was not surveyed and 
laid out until January, 1648. There has been much dis- 
cussion whether the first forge was set up at Lynn or at First iron 
Braintree, but the Lynn historian, Mr. Lewis, insists Massachusetts, 
that the first works were erected at that place, on the 
west bank of the Saugus River. This was probably in 
1643 or 1644. According to Governor Winthrop, 
whose statements relative to these works were made 
in 1648, the production was fairly encouraging, the 
works yielding about seven tons per week. The works 
at Lynn involved much expense, and the members of 
the company did not live in the immediate vicinity ; so 



* Bog Ore. — A variety of iron ore which collects in low places, being washed 
down in a soluble form in the waters which flow over rocks or sands contain- 
ing oxide of iron, and precipitated in a solid form as the waters evaporate. It 
is deposited in the bottoms of ponds as well as swamps, and is found in beds 
now dry, above the level at which it must originally have been collected, or 
else these are the product of springs which have now disappeared. Bog ore 
contains phosphorus, arsenic, and other impurities, which greatly impair its 
qualities for producing strong iron. The pig metal obtained from it, called 
cold short, is so brittle that it breaks to pieces by falling upon the hard 
ground ; but the foreign matters which weaken it also give to the melted cast- 
iron great fluidity, which causes it to be in demand for the manufacture of fine 
castings, the metal flowing into the minutest cavities of the mold, and retain- 
ing the sharp outlines desired. Bog ores are very easily converted into iron, 
and when they can be procured to mix with other kinds of ore, they produce a 
very beneficial effect, both in the running of the furnace and in the quality of 
the iron. For these reasons, as also for the cheapness with which they are 
obtained, it is an object to have them at hand, though they seldom yield more 
than thirty to thirty-five per cent of cast-iron. 



82 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Iron enterprise 
at Lynn, Mass. 

At Braintree. 



First iron 
article. 



Massachusetts 
patents for 
edged tools. 



but little profit was realized. The enterprise was prose- 
cuted at different times, however, and the works were 
not finally abandoned until after more than a century from 
their commencement had elapsed. The works at Brain- 
tree continued in operation for a period equally as long. 

According to Mr. Lewis, the author of an excellent his- 
tory of Lynn, Mass., one "Joseph Jenks deserves to be 
held in perpetual remembrance in American history as 
being the first founder who worked in brass and iron on 
the western continent. By his hands the first models 
were made, and the first castings taken of many domes- 
tic implements and iron tools. The first article said to 
have been cast was a small iron pot, capable of con- 
taining about a quart. Thomas Hudson, of the same 
family with the celebrated Hendrick Hudson, was the 
first proprietor of the lands on the Saugus River, where 
the iron foundry stood. When the forge was established 
he procured the first casting, which was the famous old 
iron pot, which he preserved as a curiosity and handed 
down in the family ever since." The legislature of 
Massachusetts granted Mr. Jenks a patent, May 6, 1646, 
for the making of scythes and other edged tools, while in 
October, 1652, the same Mr. Jenks was employed by the 
government of Massachusetts to make dies from which to 
supply the deficiency of specie by a silver coinage. 

Bog ores were found along the coast in the vicinity of 
the small ponds and the marshes ; so furnaces and forges 
for smelting and working up the metal which was obtained 
from the swamps and surrounding hills were quite com- 
mon in colonial days. Some of the ponds, especially 
those in Middleboro, Attleboro, Carver, Scituate, Hali- 
fax, and neighboring towns, it is said, supplied from one 
hundred to six hundred tons of ore annually, the crude 
iron contained in the ore being about twenty-five per 



The Iron Industry. 



cent. Many works sprung up wherever bog ore could 
be found, and its uses were applied in very many direc- 
tions. 

Copper ore was discovered near Salem by Governor copper. 
Endicottin 1648, and some smelting* works were erected 
by him about 1651, but the discovery proved of little 
account. 

The number of iron works in New England, according 
to the returns for 1731, was six works for hollow- ware New England, 
and nineteen forges or bloomeriesf for bar-iron. There 
were no pig-iron furnaces nor any refineries for pig 
metal, but refineries came into use during the next score 
of years. Rolling and slitting-millsj were in existence in 
Hanover, Milton, and Middleboro in 1750. The rolling- 
mills produced mostly nail-rods, from which spikes and 
large nails were made. But these mills suffered under 
the legislation of the mother-country, through the pro- 
hibition, by act of Parliament, of the erection of slitting 
or rolling-mills, plating forges, or steel furnaces. 

A forge was erected in Rhode Island by Joseph Jenks, i n Rhode 
but this was destroyed in 1675, during the Wampanoag Island - 



* Smelting.— The act of obtaining the metal from an ore by a process that 
includes fusion ; also, in a more limited sense, to reduce by fusion in a furnace. 

t Bloomery. — An establishment in which wrought-iron is made by the 
direct process, that is, from the ore directly, or without having been first intro- 
duced in the form of cast-iron. 

Furnace.— A structure in which to make and maintain a fire the heat of 
which is to be used for some mechanical purpose, as the melting of ores or 
metals, etc.; specifically, a structure of considerable size built of stone or 
brick, used for some purpose connected with the operation of smelting metals. 
Furnaces are constructed in a great variety of ways, according to the differ- 
ent purposes to which they are to be applied. 

Forge. — An open fireplace or furnace, fitted with a bellows or some other 
appliance for obtaining a blast to urge the fire, and serving to heat metal in 
order that it may be hammered into form. Forges differ from foundries and 
blast furnaces in their products being articles of wrought-iron, while those of 
the latter are castings. 

F oundry. — A manufacturing establishment in which articles are cast from 
metal. 

% Slitting-mill.— A mill in which iron bars or plates are slit into nail-rods, 
etc. 

Rolling-mill. — A mefal-working establishment using, in connection with 
heating-furnaces, systems of steel rollers for forming metal into sheets, bars, 
rods, or wires. 



84 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Manufactures 
of iron in 
Rhode Island. 



Attempts to 
make cut nails. 



war. Several other iron works, as well as some other 
manufacturing enterprises, were destroyed during the 
course of this war, greatly reducing the resources of the 
colonists in Rhode Island. 

The bog ore which supplied the furnaces was not of a 
quality sufficiently tough for the production of good 
nails, spikes, and tools. 

The shipbuilding around Plymouth and Narragansett 
Bay increased the demand for all kinds of iron products ; 
so the colonists were stimulated in their efforts to dis- 
cover ores in such abundance that this demand might be 
supplied. 

Rhode Island made considerable progress in this direc- 
tion, for toward the close of the eighteenth century the 
manufactures of iron, which at that time included very 
many articles, such as bar* and sheet-iron steel, nail-rods, 
and nails, farming implements, stoves, pots, and other 
castings, and household utensils, iron-work for ships, 
anchors, and bells, were important products of industry. 
Slitting and rolling-mills, anchor forges, nail-cutting 
machines, and several mills were erected at Pawtucket 
Falls, some of which were carried on by water. There 
were in operation toward the close of the century screw- 
cutting machines and hollow-ware furnaces. The militia 
companies of the colony were supplied with muskets as 
early as 1775 by Stephen Jenks of North Providence. 
One Jeremiah Wilkinson, at Cumberland, was the first 
to make the attempt to cut small nails from sheet-iron. 
In this Wilkinson used old Spanish hoops. Wilkinson 



* Pig-iron.— Iron in oblong masses, or pigs, as turned out by the smelting 
furnace ; so called because the molten metal is run into a long mass with 
shorter ones attached to it at right angles, the long one being called the sow, 
and the shorter ones the pigs. 

Bar-iron. — Wrought-iron rolled into the form of bars. 

Rolled-iron.— Iron passed between steel rolls of different sizes, according 
to the shape desired to be imparted to the metal. 



The Iron Industry. 



85 



also made pins and needles from wire which he himself 
drew out. These articles were very scarce and ex- 
pensive. If, therefore, they could be made by the col- 
onists and sold without the intermediary expenses of 
transportation from the old country a good market could 
be secured. 

The colony of Connecticut at a very early date (1651) 
encouraged the discovery of minerals within its territory, iron in 
for it is recorded that on motion of Mr. Winthrop, who 
was the prime mover in the organization of the company 
which undertook the first iron works at Lynn and Brain- 
tree in 1643, or thereabouts, and who had received a 
grant for a settlement and iron works in Connecticut, 
the Assembly of Connecticut passed an encouraging Encourage- 
act which declared that, "whereas, in this rocky country connecTkutl 
among these mountainous and rocky hills there are 
probabilities of mines of metal, the discovery of which 
may be of great advantages to the country in raising a 
staple commodity ; and whereas, John Winthrop, Esq., 
doth intend to be at charges and adventure for the 
search and discovery of such mines and minerals, for the 
encouragement thereof, and of any that shall adventure 
with the said John Winthrop, Esq., in the said business, 
it is therefore ordered," etc. It granted to him, his 
heirs, associates, partners, and assigns, forever, the 
lands, timber, and water within two or three miles of 
any mines of lead, copper, tin, antimony, vitriol, black 
lead, alum, stone, salt, or salt springs he might discover, 
if he should set up any works for digging, washing, 
melting, or other operations required for such metals or 
minerals, provided it was not in a place already occupied. 
The government of Connecticut again, in 1663, offered 
encouragement to any one who would undertake the 
discovery of mines and minerals, and the act of 1663 



86 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



was renewed in 1672, but the records do not give any- 
very definite information as to the success which re- 
warded either the research of Mr. Winthrop or that 
which resulted under the acts of 1663 and 1672. This 
encouragement was offered by the General Court. 

Prior to this the Assembly of New Haven, seven years 
before the date of the charter of Mr. Winthrop, gave 
encouragement to the manufacture of iron in Connecti- 
cut, for on the 30th of May, 1655, it was ordered, 
' ' that if an iron worke goe on within any part of this 
jurisdiction, the persons and estates constantly and onely 
imployed in that worke shall be free from paying rates, ' ' 
and the same year an order was passed concerning the 
manufacture of steel. This is believed to have been the 
first attempt at the production of steel in the Connecti- 
cut colonies. The General Court acquiesced in these 
privileges, and in the following May exempted the per- 
sons from rates for ten years and ordered that the prop- 
erty invested in the manufacture of steel should not be 
attached for the individual debts of those involved in 
the undertaking, at least to such an extent as to hinder 
the work or damage the other proprietors. So iron 
works grew in the Connecticut colonies, the government 
thereof making provision for the encouragement, through 
exemptions and otherwise, of the development of the 
industry. Slitting-mills were erected at Stony Brook as 
early as 17 16, and these were probably the first works 
erected subsequent to those just recorded. 

The efforts to obtain ores led to the discovery in 
Connecticut of two deposits of copper, which it was 
confidently hoped would give a profitable yield. One 
of these copper mines was found at Simsbury, now the 
town of Granby, and after some struggle was success- 
fully worked until 1773. This mine furnished the ore 



The Iron Industry. 



8? 



for some copper coins which were struck in 1737 and 
1739, by Samuel Higley, a blacksmith of Granby. These 
coins were current for many years, and were known as 
the ' ' Granby coppers. ' ' 

Mr. Higley, in May, 1728, was granted a patent for 
ten years for making steel, the condition of the patent 
being that the petitioner should improve the art within 
two years after the date of the act of the legislature 
granting the patent. 

Bells were cast in a foundry for that purpose, at New Bells. 
Haven, in 1736, by Abel Parmlee. 

Connecticut's most valuable deposits of iron ore were 
found in the northwestern part of the state, bordering 
on New York and Massachusetts, Sharon, Salisbury, 
and Kent being the most favored townships. 

As late as 1740 Mr. Philip Livingston of Albany, 
N. Y. , who had received a grant of a large tract of one York!" New 
hundred acres, and who had set up a furnace or bloom- 
ery at Limerock, where pig-iron, common iron kettles, 
etc., were made as early as 1736, erected iron works at 
Ancram, in Columbia County, New York, some twelve 
miles northwest of the Connecticut mines, and in 1762 a 
blast furnace was built at the outlet of Wanscopommuc 
Lake, in Salisbury. 

With these beginnings the manufacture of iron in 
Connecticut progressed with good results, so that at the £ n g manufac- 
close of the colonial period Connecticut was doing fairly Connecticut, 
well in that industry, but in addition to iron and its man- 
ufactures steel is said to have been made by several 
parties. Many bloomeries and small works for a variety 
of manufactures in iron were established on the small 
streams traversing Connecticut, the forges in the south- 
ern part of the state being chiefly supplied with bog ore, 
while in the interior other kinds of ores, especially the 



88 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Place of the 
first manufac- 
ture of tinware. 



First iron 
works in New 
York. 



Manufacture of 
anchors. 

Cannon. 
Bar-iron. 
Steel. 



hematitic ores found in the northeastern part of the 
state, gave an impulse to trade. To this day Connecti- 
cut is noted for the extent and variety of its manufac- 
tures of metal small wares. 

Berlin, in Hartford County, Connecticut, is stated to 
be the first place in this country where tinware was man- 
ufactured. This was in 1770, by Edward Patterson. 
Many of the industries which make Connecticut what it 
is were started in a small way during the latter part of 
the eighteenth century, but, as already intimated, they 
related very largely to the manufacture of metal wares. 

The Dutch colonizers of New York made no success- 
ful attempts at the manufacture of iron, although they 
did stimulate prospecting for iron and other ores. The 
first iron works in New York were erected, as already 
stated, by Mr. Philip Livingston, at Ancram, who 
obtained his ore largely from Salisbury, Conn. A 
company of German miners, who came to this country 
between 1730 and 1750, were among the earliest ex- 
plorers of the metalliferous regions of the highlands. 
They made many excavations and, it is said, set up some 
iron works in Orange County during the period named, 
for in 1750 Governor Clinton, in reporting to Parlia- 
ment, stated that there was a plating-forge with a tilt- 
hammer at Wawaganda, in Orange County. It was the 
only mill of that kind in the province, and had been 
built four or five years before the year named. In the 
same year some works were built in the town of Monroe, 
for the manufacture of anchors. These anchors were 
made from the iron ore found at the south end of 
Sterling Mountain, and the mines there became very 
productive. The metal was strong, and was afterward 
largely used for the manufacture of cannon, bar-iron, 
steel, etc. 



The Iron Industry. 



8 9 



Mr. Peter Townsend was the first man to produce First steel pro 
steel in the province of New York. This he made first Yo C rk d in New 
from pig and afterward from bar-iron, using the German 
method. He became the proprietor of the Sterling 
works before the Revolution. It was from the ore from 
the mines which supplied the Sterling works that the 
enormous iron chain which was used in 1778 as an ob- . , . 

' ' Iron chain 

struction across the Hudson at West Point was forged. ^5|^ he 
This chain weighed 186 tons, and under the direction of 
Col. Timothy Pickering, one of Washington's staff, was 
produced and delivered in six weeks. According to all 
accounts this immense chain remained unbroken through- 
out the Revolution, and some of its links are preserved 
among the revolutionary relics at Newburgh. These 
works became historic in their influence upon the prog- 
ress of the war. Other works were erected by Mr. 
Townsend and his associates in 1777. These men also 
owned other mines, especially the Long mine, which 
was discovered in 1761 by one David Jones. 

Governor De Lancey, in obedience to a royal procla- 
mation, in 1757 sent to England an account of the iron 
works of the province of New York as they existed 
from 1749 to 1756. In this account is a statement 
furnished by Robert Livingston, Jr. , son of the first pro- 
prietor of the Ancram iron works, which have been men- 
tioned. This statement indicates that these works were 
the only ones in the province then carried on. Ac- 
cording to this account the amount of iron made at 
Ancram for the years named was over 3,300 tons. 

Besides the Livingston works iron manufactories 
sprung up at Copake, Hudson, and other places. Will- 
iam Hawkshurst advertised in 1765 that he had erected pig-iron 
a refinery and great hammer for refining the Sterling refinery - 
pig-iron into bars, and he announced that flat, square, 



90 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Encouragement 
of iron industry. 



Manufacture 
of guns. 



Iron in New 
Jersey. 



and bar-iron, cart, wagon, chair, and sleigh-tire, mill 
spindles, anvils, pots, kettles, forged plates, weights, 
and many other articles could be supplied to his cus- 
tomers in New York. 

Societies were formed at this time for the encourage- 
ment of the iron industry, premiums being offered for 
products of skill. Among these was the Society of 
Arts, which opened a fair for the sale of domestic prod- 
ucts. Other portions of the province of New York, 
under the demands which were stimulated by the in- 
creasing population, the necessities of building both 
ships and houses, and other things, developed the iron 
industry to a considerable extent, not only supplying the 
home demand, but even exporting to some extent, the 
shipments of iron from the port of New York amount- 
ing to 2,400 tons of pig and 750 tons of bar-iron in 
1775 ; but it was not until after the Revolution that the 
industry assumed great proportions. Then in the north- 
ern part of the state iron ore was discovered and util- 
ized and the industry firmly established, although the 
general progress in the state, so far as the iron industry 
was concerned, did not equal in the last century that in 
New England and Pennsylvania. 

The manufacture of guns was carried on to some ex- 
tent, muskets and rifles being made in considerable 
quantities for the Indian trade, while the armories at 
Albany were employed by the government at the com- 
mencement of the Revolution. 

It is quite impossible to give any precise date for the 
erection of the first iron works in New Jersey, but the 
earliest in that province belonged to Col. Lewis Morris, 
whose brother Richard and himself were the ancestors of 
the Morris family so well known in the early history of 
this country; but near 1655 one Henry Leonard, who 



The Iron Industry. 



9i 



had worked in the first iron works in the country, those at 
Lynn, Mass., which have already been described, came 
to Jersey, and is said to have been the first to set up a 
forge in that province. It was not until the next cen- 
tury, however, that much progress was made, during 
which, and prior to the close of the Revolution, many 
important works were established, some of which were 
erected at the very close of the seventeenth century. 
When the eighteenth century closed ten mines were being 
worked within the limits of Morris County alone, which iron worfcs in 
contained two furnaces, three rolling and slitting-mills, n.j. 
and about forty forges with two to four fires each. Many 
of the counties during the last quarter of the eighteenth 
century found ore in fair abundance, and of course forges 
were erected for working it. The village of Troy, in 
Hanover County, had a bloomery forge, built in 1743, 
while the Beach Glen bloomery, three miles north of the 
village of Rockaway, was built in 1760. A little above 
Milton the Russia and Hopewell bloomeries were set up, 
the former in 1775 and the latter in 1780. Randolph, 
Mount Hope, Morristown, Boonton, Dover, and other 
towns, have for a very long time been busy in the manu- 
facture of iron. Iron works were erected at an early 
date on the Ringwood and Pequannock Rivers, and a 
charcoal furnace was erected prior to 1770 on the Morris charcoal 
County side of the Pequannock. So at other places furnace - 
Jersey did her share in the early evolution of the iron 
industry, and to such an extent as to place her on a very 
firm basis when the new era after the adoption of the 
constitution was opened. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



the iron industry {Concluded*). 

The great iron-producing- state of Pennsylvania did 
/on in not develop her mineral resources at as early a period as 

Pennsylvania, more n0 rthern neighbors, yet at an early time her 

anthracite and bituminous coal gave her great advan- 
tages in the production of iron ; in fact, while accounts 
appear of the knowledge of the existence of iron ores 
during the seventeenth century, there does not appear 
to be any distinct account of the erection of forges or 
furnaces during that century. Mr. Swank, in his work, 
" History of the Manufacture of Iron in All Ages" 
(and he is corroborated by Bishop and others), states 
that the settlers on the Delaware, under the successive 
administrations of the Swedes and Dutch and the Duke 

No efforts prior G f York, appear to have made no effort to manufacture 
to 1682. . ' rr 

iron in any form down to 1682. From Mr. Swank's 

work and others it is learned that in the ' 1 Journal of a 
Voyage to New York," in 1679 and 1680, by Jasper 
Dankers and Peter Sluyter, who then visited the Swedish 
and other settlements on the Delaware, it is expressly 
declared that iron ore had not been seen by them on 
Tinicum Island or elsewhere in the neighborhood. Dan- 
kers states : " As to there being a mine of iron ore upon 
it, I have not seen any upon that island, or elsewhere ; and 
if it were so it is of no great importance, for such mines are 
so common in this country that little account is made of 
them. ' ' But under William Penn the manufacture of iron 

92 



The Iron hidjtstry. 



93 



in Pennsylvania had its beginning. In a letter written by 
him to Lord Keeper North, in July, 1683, he mentions 
the existence of 1 ' mineral, of copper, and iron in divers 
places" in Pennsylvania, and in 1685, speaking of the 
prospects of trade, he says : "I might add iron, be- 
cause there is much of it." It is probably true that 
Penn had iron works at Hawkhurst and other places in 
Sussex, but it is in 1692 that the first mention of iron 
having been made in Pennsylvania is found, although 
this is only a mention. * The first authentic account, 
however, of the first attempt which was successfully car- First attempt to 

. , - . r . i«i make iron in 

ried out in the making 01 iron in Pennsylvania shows Pennsylvania, 
that it was in 17 16. This was a bloomery forge, which 
was constructed by Thomas Rutter, on Manatawny 
Creek, in Berks County. The next iron enterprise in 
Pennsylvania was undertaken by Samuel Nutt, an Eng- 
lish Quaker, who, in 17 17, about the same time that 
Rutter built his forge on the Manatawny, erected one on 
French Creek, in the northern part of Chester County. 
Accounts state that as early as 17 19 the iron at this point 
promised well. 

Mr. Swank gives the third iron enterprise in Pennsyl- 
vania as the Colebrookdale furnace, erected about 1720 
by a company of which Thomas Rutter, who has 
already been mentioned, was the principal member. 
This furnace was located on Ironstone Creek, in 
Colebrookdale township, Berks County, the site of 
which is marked at the present time by cinder. By 
1728 the iron industry of Pennsylvania had developed to 
such an extent that it was really on a firm foundation, 
for the colony exported 274 tons of pig-iron to the old of iron 

country in 1728-29. After this date forges and furnaces Penns y lvania - 



♦See "History of the Manufacture of Iron in All Ages," by James M. 
Swank. 



94 Industrial Evolutioyi of the United States. 



Iron west of the 
Susquehanna. 



Nucleus of the 
Carlisle iron 
works. 



Manufacture of 
nails in 
Pennsylvania. 



Manufacture of 
small arms in 
Pennsylvania. 



were erected rapidly in the Schuylkill valley and other 
eastern portions of Pennsylvania. The history of their 
erection, the struggles of their progress, their periods of 
success and adversity, are all connected with the de- 
velopment of the state. 

The iron industry of Pennsylvania crossed the Susque- 
hanna at a very early date, yet not early enough to bring 
the great development into the colonial period, only a 
few forges and bloomeries having been erected in the 
western part of the state prior to the Revolution. There 
was a bloomery in York County in 1756 and a forge on 
Codorus Creek in 1770. A furnace and forge were built 
at Boiling Springs, in Cumberland County, a little after 
1762. This formed the nucleus of the Carlisle iron works. 
A forge is supposed to have been built at Mount Holly 
in 1756, and another in the same county in 1770. These 
are the principal works that were erected west of the 
Susquehanna during the colonial period. 

The iron manufactures of the state took many forms. 
Furnaces, foundries, rolling-mills, nail works, wire-mills, 
and manufactories of metallic and other materials had a 
rapid growth. The amount of iron exported from Phila- 
delphia in the year ending April 5, 1766, was 882 tons 
of bar, worth £2.6 per ton, and 813 tons of pig-iron, 
worth £7 and 10 shillings per ton. In the three years 
preceding the war, ending January 5, 1774, the exports 
were respectively 2,358, 2,205, an d 1,564 tons. 

The manufacture of nails was begun at an early date 
in Pennsylvania, certainly as early as 1731, while anchors 
were made as early as 1755. Works for drawing wire 
were erected in 1779. 

Small arms were manufactured in Philadelphia, Lan- 
caster, and other places. The mechanics of Philadelphia 
acquired a reputation for inventive skill, as evidenced in 



The Iro?i Industry. 



95 



the construction of machines and instruments. This in- 
ventive skill was undoubtedly stimulated largely by the 
ease with which ore could be secured for the manufacture 
of iron. One of the earliest evidences of this inventive 
development is found in the employment of a fire-engine, 
which was recommended by Samuel Preston, one of the 
early mayors of the city of Philadelphia. This was in 
December, 17 19. 

The first experimental steam-engine built in America Experimental 
was made in Philadelphia in 1773, by Christopher Colles. steam " en s ine - 

Carding machines, cotton-gins, spinning-jennies, and 
other textile machinery, were made in Philadelphia, while Carding 
many other valuable inventions were developed and ap- 
plied practically by the mechanics of that city. 

There do not appear to have been works of any extent Iron in 
erected in Delaware during the seventeenth century, but Delaware - 
as early as 1726 mention is made in some accounts of 
Governor Keith, of Pennsylvania, being the proprietor 
of iron works in Newcastle County. Mr. Bishop thinks 
they were probably at Newcastle, the oldest town in the 
state, or on White Clay Creek or its branches. In the 
latter part of the eighteenth century a rolling and slit- 
ting-mill was erected at Wilmington, a place which had 
achieved a good deal of importance as one of the active 
centers of colonial industry, but its development in iron, 
whatever it has, took place after the colonial period 
closed. 

Extensive deposits of bog-iron ore were found through- 
out the whole eastern shore of Maryland, and other InMar y land * 
kinds of ore were found in other parts of the state. 
These ores were described as early as 1648 and their uses 
and advantages understood by the English settlers of 
Maryland, but the mechanic arts did not find a home in 
that state at a very early date, notwithstanding the legis- 



g6 Industrial Evolution of the U?iited States. 



Legislative 
encouragement. 



Cannon cast in 
Maryland. 



Works stimu- 
lated by the 
war. 



lature in 1681 endeavored to turn the industry of the 
colony into that channel. The manufacture of iron 
probably commenced not many years after this legislative 
encouragement, although the earliest forges of which 
any very positive mention is made were found at Prin- 
cipio, at the head of Chesapeake Bay. This was known 
to have been in operation prior to 1722. A rolling-mill, 
which was in operation at the time of the Revolution, 
was erected in the colony as early as 1742. This was on 
Big Elk River, five miles north of Elkton. Other works 
were built at various times, at somewhat long intervals, 
during the colonial period, a furnace being erected in 
1734 at the head of Back River. A slitting-mill was 
also set up in the same vicinity in 1778. Cannon were 
cast in Maryland as early as 1780, at a furnace called 
Northampton. This was situated about ten miles west 
of Baltimore. The Maryland records have it that this 
particular furnace ran seventy years upon a single de- 
posit of brown ore. Other furnaces and some forges 
were erected in Anne Arundel County at as early a date 
as those just mentioned, and other counties had forges 
and slitting-mills built in the last century. 

The preparations to provide for the war which were 
made in the colonies in the summer and autumn of 1776 
stimulated the furnaces and gun-shops, wherever they 
were, and the forges and the slitting and plating-mills 
and other iron works of the colonies which had survived 
the parliamentary restrictions of 1750 found plenty of 
work. Maryland had eight furnaces and nine forges at 
that time, that colony, with Virginia, exporting over 
2,500 tons of pig-iron yearly to England; so the iron 
industry of Maryland was quite an important one when 
the war broke out. On the 1st of July, 1776, the Mary- 
land Convention authorized the Council of Safety to lend 



The Iron Industry. 



97 



the proprietors of an air furnace in Frederick County 
the sum of ,£2,000 to encourage them to prosecute their 
cannon foundry, and it added in the authorization, 
1 ' with spirit and diligence. ' ' Small cannon and swivels 
were ordered in the same year and month from the fur- 
nace and iron works in Baltimore County. The pig-iron 
of Rid^ely's furnace had the reputation of being - the Reputation of 

. pig-iron in 

best made in the state, and the gun-makers of Massachu- Maryland, 
setts purchased some of it at ^10 per ton. At the close Number of 
of the last century there were probably seventeen or oTfhe seven- 6 
eighteen forges for the manufacture of iron in Maryland, teenth centur y- 
and these works existed in six counties of the state ; but 
the western part of the state did not develop the industry 
until after the close of the colonial period. Allegany 
Count}', which now has some of the richest mineral and 
iron-producing localities in the state, was not developed 
until later. 

In all probability the very first attempt to manufacture First attempt 
iron on the American continent was made in Virginia, as Jj virgm?a kmg 
early as 161 9. Brief mention of this has been made and 
of the disastrous termination of the enterprise through 
the massacre of the operatives by the Indians. No other 
attempt was made during the seventeenth century, and 
it was not until 1 7 1 5 that the iron industry was practi- 
cally commenced on any permanent basis in that colony. 
Mr. Bishop and other writers give an account of a visit 
of Col. William Byrd to the iron mines and furnaces of 
Col. Alexander Spottswood, on the Rappahannock. 
Colonel Byrd stated that he was informed by Colonel 
Spottswood that he was not only the first in this country, 
but the first in North America, who had erected a regu- 
lar furnace, and that they had run altogether upon 
bloomeries in New England and Pennsylvania till his ex- 
ample had made them attempt greater works. Other 



98 Industrial Evolution of the U?iited States. 



accounts would lead to the supposition that these works 
were erected prior to 1724. At the time of Colonel 
Byrd's visit there were, according to his host's state- 
ment, four furnaces in Virginia, but there was no forge. 
Early in the last century deposits of brown hematite 
ofthe Blue* 5 ' * ron ore a PP ear t° have been opened in several places in 
Ridge. the great limestone valley of Virginia, west of the Blue 

Ridge. Pine forge, three and a half miles north of 
Newmarket, in Shenandoah County, was built, according 
to a statement in Lesley's " Iron Manufacturer's Guide," 
in 1725, and there was also one erected in 1757, on 
Mossy Creek, fifteen miles north of Staunton, while a 
furnace was built not far from the forge in 1760. From 
a work entitled "Notes on Virginia," published in 1781, 
there is obtained a very good idea of the condition of 
the iron works of Virginia at that time : 

The mines of iron worked at present are Callaway's, Ross's, 
and Ballandine's on the south side of James River, Old's on the 
north side in Albemarle, Miller's in Augusta, and Zane's in 
Frederick. These two last are in the valley between the Blue 
Ridge and North Mountain. Callaway's, Ross's, Miller's, and 
Zane's make about 150 tons of bar-iron each in the year ; Ross's 
makes also about 1,600 tons of pig-iron annually ; Ballandine's, 
1,000 ; Callaway's, Miller's, and Zane's, about 600 each. Besides 
these, a forge of Mr. Hunter's at Fredericksburg makes about 
300 tons a year of bar-iron from pigs imported from Maryland ; 
and Taylor's forge, on Neapsco of Potomac, works in the same 
way, but to what extent I am not informed. The undertakers 
of iron in other places are numerous, and dispersed through all 
the middle country. The toughness of the cast-iron of Ross's 
and Zane's furnaces is remarkable. Pots and other utensils 
cast thinner than usual of this iron may be safely thrown into 
or out of the wagons in which they are transported. Salt pans 
made of the same, and no longer wanted for that purpose, can- 
not be broken up in order to be melted again unless previously 
drilled in many parts. 

The development in the colony brought many othe" 



The Iron Industry. 



99 



furnaces and forges into existence before the close of the Development of 
century, Virginia taking its place in the development, v?rgin?a. ksm 
and during the Revolution performing its part in the 
manufacture of material necessary for the conduct of the 
war. The Assembly of Virginia at different times en- 
couraged the erection of mills and iron works ; so that Encouragement 
when the Revolution stimulated the southern colonies to m Virgima- 
pay increased attention to manufactures Virginia was 
ready to adopt new measures. Among other features a 
resolution was passed in August, 1775, providing "that 
in case the British Ministry attempts to enforce the Act 
of Parliament preventing the erection of plating and 
slitting-mills in America, the Convention will recompense 
to the proprietors of the first two of such mills as shall 
be finished and set to work in this Colony all losses they 
may respectively sustain in consequence of such en- 
deavours of Administration." 

The Virginians were no whit behind the other col- 
onists in their zeal to provide the troops which the Con- 
tinental Congress was called upon to supply, although 
Virginia depended more upon her own resources for the 
cannon and small arms necessary to provide her troops 
than did some of the others. 

North Carolina has an abundance of good ore in some 
parts, and it was first discovered by the colony sent out Iron in North 
by Sir Walter Raleigh, but no great progress was made 
in the erection of furnaces or forges until late in the col- 
onial period, although it is known that several iron 
works were in operation before the Revolution. They 
were on the belts of the middle and western districts, 
but just where they were established is not quite clear ; 
yet they must have existed some years prior to the war, 
as there was exported to England as early as 1728-29 a 
small quantity of pig-iron — about one ton— and in 1734 



Carolina. 



ioo Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



another small shipment was made. But no authentic 
accounts of the location or the dates of early iron enter- 
prises in North Carolina are to be found. The colonial 
period, therefore, gives but little in the way of the de- 
velopment of this industry in that colony ; nor is there 
any accessible information relative to the manufacture of 
iron in South Carolina. The industry was commenced 
Skilled labor at a late date in the latter state. Skilled labor was dear 

dear. 

and met with little encouragement ; so the expense of 
iron works prevented their establishment. As the 
southern colonies were devoted to agriculture, the de- 
mand for iron was less than in the more northern col- 
onies. There was not, therefore, the stimulation to the 
research for ore or to the establishment of iron works 
when it was discovered. The first iron works in South 
Carolina were erected in the year 1773, but they were 
First iron destroyed by the Tories during the Revolution. To en- 
CaroHn"! S ° Uth courage the manufacture of iron the colony offered a 
premium of ^1,000 for the erection of a bloomery that 
should first produce one ton of good bar-iron. For the 
second and third forges of the same kind, the sums of 
^800 and £700, respectively, were promised ; but it was 
not until some years after peace was declared that iron 
works on any large scale were erected. These consisted 
of the ^ra furnace, built in 1787, and the Etna, erected 
the following year. 

The resources of Georgia in iron, gold, and coal are 
Georgia. ample enough, but the development of iron manufacture 

did not take place during the colonial period. Georgia 
was the youngest of the colonies, and it is very natural 
that she should have no iron history during the colonial 
period. The last of the thirteen colonies to be settled, 
it could not be expected that such an industry should re- 
ceive much attention. 



The Iron Industry. 



101 



While great quantities of bar-iron, steel, and nails 
were used by the colonies before the war and imported 
from other countries, nevertheless they exported bar and 
pig-iron in very respectable quantities. For fifty years 
prior to the Declaration of Independence these exports 
had been going on, the quantities ever varying, some- 
times from one cause and sometimes from another — often, 
however, owing to the restrictive legislation of the 
mother-country. The total amount of bar and pig-iron 
exported in 1728, and this was from Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina, was 1,127 tons an< ^ a 
few hundredweight, while in 1775 the exports of bar Exports of iron, 
and pig-iron from all the colonies amounted to 3,912 
tons, the highest exportations being in 1771, when they 
reached 7,525 tons and some hundred weight. With 
the Declaration of Independence, these exportations 
dropped at once, amounting in 1776 to a little over 316 
tons. Nearly all of these exportations, it should be re- 
membered, were to England. To Scotland and Ireland 
there were exportations of small quantities. 

In this review of the development of the industries of 
the colonies the attempt has not been made to give in de- Sdu'stries 
tail the facts for all trades and industries, but only to jScF. colomal 
show the leading features connected with the establish- 
ment of those industries which in after years have con- 
stituted the bulk of the manufactures of the United 
States. The textiles, which now lead in magnitude, the 
lumber, saw, and planing business, iron and steel manu- 
facture, the building trades, printing and publishing, 
flour and grist-mills, with boots and shoes added, employ 
56 per cent of the total capital of the United States in- 
vested in manufactures at the present time, and their 
product is 64 per cent of the entire product ; yet all of 
these industries had their origin, to a certain extent, in 



io2 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



the colonial days. The manufacture of boots and shoes 
was begun at a very early date, even to the extent of 
exporting small quantities, shoes being exported as early 
snoe manu- as 1 651 by some of the merchants of Boston, who had 

fixtures in ° J ' 

Massachusetts, obtained a few, chiefly manufactured of calf-skin, from 
Lynn, where the business had already been undertaken. 
Of course the tanning of leather was a necessity. With 
the colonists were to be found handicraftsmen of all 
trades, and every hamlet had its own shoemaker, black- 
smith, etc. These small trades flourished as the colonies 
developed and as the greater industries became impor- 
tant. 

The magnitude of the manufactures of the country at 
the time the constitution was adopted cannot be stated 
with exactness. The exports of all kinds amounted 

Exports, 1789. 1.1 1 r 1 • 

to nearly $20,000,000, but just now much of this was 
furnished by the mechanical industries cannot be stated, 
although the amount must have been in the vicinity of 
$1,000,000, because a few years later, when there were 
returns, it was found to be over $1,300,000. To state 
the amount of manufactures would be mere guesswork, 
and an estimate can be reached only by considering the 
amount of exports and the value of manufactures at 
later periods. Reasoning from such facts as are obtain- 
able, it is probable that the manufactures of the United 
States at the close of the colonial period amounted to 
about $20,000,000.* The matter was well summed up 
by Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treas- 
ury, who in January, 1791, submitted to the House of 
Value of man- Representatives as comprehensive a report as was pos- 
ufactures, 1790. s j D j e on t ] ie manu f ac tures of the states. This well-known 
report gives much in detail the facts relative to the dif- 



* Mr. Tench Coxe made an estimate in 1790 fixing the annual value of the 
manufactures of the United States for that year at more than $20,000,000. 



The Iron Industry. 



103 



ferent industries which then flourished. The report 
showed a most gratifying increase in the manufactures of 
the country, whether they were conducted for purely 
domestic purposes or for the supply of trade, and the 
advancement which each had made was clearly pointed 
out. 

Before the Revolutionary War the injurious compe- Conditionsat 
tition with foreign countries had been an almost insur- close of the 

, Revolution. 

mountable hindrance to the establishment of manufac- 
tures, and at its close, when the stimulus of the war was 
withdrawn, very many attempts undertaken during its 
progress were abandoned, the abandonment resulting 
not only from renewed competition with the mother- 
country but from the combined effects of low prices and 
the scarcity and the high price of skilled labor and 
machinery. As will be pointed out in a future chapter, 
in dealing with the establishment of the factory system, 
the American manufacturers were unable to contend 
with the new forces coming into existence in Europe, 
and especially in England, without legislative protection. 
How they overcame these obstacles will be shown after 
the treatment of the colonial period. 



CHAPTER IX. 



LABOR AND WAGES. 



Early con- 
ditions. 



Experience 
in Virginia. 

In Plymouth. 



The colonists, both North and South, while preserving 
many of the customs and habits of their old home, un- 
dertook in some things to break entirely away from 
them. Among these attempts to surround themselves 
with new conditions, with a hope of avoiding some of 
the difficulties experienced in their past lives, they un- 
dertook to conduct their work on the community basis. 
Each colonist was to do his share toward the support of 
the whole, the result of the combined work being for the 
benefit of all. Pure and simple communism seemed to 
be the aim, so far as labor and its results were con- 
cerned ; but Captain John Smith, after a very brief ex- 
perience, found such a system would not succeed, and 
after some bitter complaints declared that ' ' he that will 
not work shall not eat, ' ' while the Plymouth colony, after 
nearly three years of experimenting on the community 
basis, came to the same conclusion, finding that the 
drones among them benefited equally with the indus- 
trious. So labor was relegated to its old conditions, and 
wages were paid for services rendered. The slave sys- 
tem in Virginia, however, which early took root, pre- 
vented many complications which arose in the northern 
colonies, and few attempts were made to regulate wages 
by law, while the Pilgrims were imbued with the idea 
that nearly every condition — social, industrial, and polit- 
ical — could be fixed by statute and all the affairs of the 

104 



Labor and Wages. 



community regulated in exact ways. They were exclu- 
sives in every respect. They did not care to have with 
them people who were not considered as proper citizens, 
and the colonial records are full of examples of town and ^ tte ^ s at f 
general legislation excluding from the benefits of citizen- wages, 
ship certain persons thought to be undesirable. They 
proposed to build a state where human nature should be 
regulated into obedience to the opinions and wishes of 
the majority ; so they very naturally undertook to regu- 
late wages by law, following in this practice the attempts 
of England at various times to prevent mechanics and 
laborers from charging too high a price for their services. 

The Massachusetts Bay colony, as early as 1633, 
adopted a statute, through the General Court, command- g"^ 55301111 " 
ing that carpenters, sawyers, masons, bricklayers, tilers, 
joiners, wheelwrights, mowers, and other master work- 
men (as they were then called, but, as they would be 
designated to-day, journeymen) were not to receive 
more than two shillings per day, each paying his own 
board, or if furnished with living they might receive four- 
teen pence per day. The constable, with two others as- 
sociated with him, was to fix the rates of pay of inferior 
workmen in the same occupations. The best laborers 
were allowed eighteen pence per day, while the poorer 
ones were rated by the constable, as in the case of in- 
ferior workmen in the trades. Skilled tailors were paid 
twelve pence per day, but the poorer ones were paid ^U esof 
eight pence per day, with their living. The whole day 
was the time, but allowances were made for food and 
rest. Whenever an employer paid wages beyond the 
amounts established by law, or whenever a workman 
received such extra wages, he was subjected to penal- 
ties. The law undertook to say that there should 
be no idleness, and idleness was subjected to penalty. 



io6 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Towns author- 
ized to fix 
wages. 



Labor in 
demand. 



Free trade in 
labor not 
acceptable. 



Curiously enough, in the year 1634 the clause of the 
statute imposing a penalty of five shillings upon those 
who paid wages above the court rates was repealed, and 
towns were authorized to appoint a board of three men 
to adjust wages when the employers and employees 
could not agree as to the rates for work done under the 
law. In 1635, finding that the statute did not work ex- 
actly as it was expected, some men were fined for receiv- 
ing two shillings and six pence per day, but this rule 
gave little satisfaction, and later in the year the law was 
repealed. There was plenty of work to do. while labor 
was in demand. Many workmen were brought over 
from England in the early days, under contract to work 
out their passage money after arriving. The practice of 
apprenticing boys, even at an early age, some of them 
not older than seven years being bound until twenty-one 
years of age, was common, and the service they had to 
render was severe, as was also the discipline they had to 
undergo for conduct that was not approved. These ap- 
prentices were entitled, under custom, to a suit of clothes 
on attaining their majority, and this practice was con- 
tinued until very recent times. 

Strange to say, the experience of the three years 
mentioned did not convince the Massachusetts Bay 
colonists of the futility of undertaking to fix economic 
conditions by statute, and so in 1636 towns were 
authorized to fix wages within their respective juris- 
dictions. It was impossible for the settlers to be- 
lieve that legislation was not essential. Free trade 
in labor was not acceptable. But the collapse in 
prices which occurred in 1640 brought them to another 
position, and they were taught that local option in the 
fixing of wages was not sufficient to control prices of 
commodities ; so laborers were commanded by the 



Labor and Wages. 



General Court to reduce wages in accordance with 
the reduction of prices, and in Plymouth colony, as 
late as the year 1639, laborers were fined for taking 
wages beyond the limits. These attempts led them 
into all sorts of vague notions as to the power of 
law. No sooner did one statute fail than it was re- Notion that law 

could fix wages. 

pealed and some other attempt made in like direc- 
tion, but generally reversing what had gone before. 
Mr. William B. Weeden, in his work, "The Economic 
and Social History of New England, 1620- 1789," has 
brought together very many instances of attempts 
to regulate social and economic conditions, and the 
reader is referred to that work for more general details 
than can be recited in the present volume. Speaking 
of these attempts, he calls attention very forcibly to 
the fact that the administration of government in the 
colonial days consisted largely in meddlesome interfer- 
ence with daily affairs, and that the colonists were ever 
trying to so adjust the burdens of the state that their 
own backs and those of their poor dependents might be 
galled the least possible ; yet he states, with wisdom, 
that the intuitive sagacity of the men of those early days 
seldom failed in indicating the finally tenable grounds of 
legislation. In the light of these statements it will not 
appear strange that legislation was aimed at the regula- 
tion of dress and even to minuter affairs that concerned 
the household and not the public. 

It is impossible to state definitely the average wages 
paid in any class of work, but for a long period two - xerage " a s es - 
shillings per day may be considered as a fair average for 
mechanical labor. It was natural, under the primitive 
conditions surrounding the colonists, that labor should 
be performed in exchange for goods and produce, under 
a system of barter, and this system was superinduced, to 



io8 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Effect of 
attempts to 
regulate wages. 



Wages of 
mowers. 



Skilled work- 
men subjected 
to annoying 
regulations. 



a certain extent, by legislative interference. The at- 
tempt to have each town regulate its own wages resulted 
in the working people seeking new abodes and attempt- 
ing to live independent of legislative restriction. Speak- 
ing of the time of 1640 and later, and of Massachusetts, 
it is ascertained that the General Court found by ex- 
perience that labor could not and would not be con- 
trolled. Winthrop says the legislation ' ' held not long. ' ' 
But Massachusetts and Plymouth were not alone in these 
attempts, for the Connecticut court fixed detailed prices 
for artificers and workmen during the same period. 
Some of the regulations of the towns were to the effect 
of making one shilling and six pence per day the wage 
for common labor. Mowers received two shillings and 
carpenters one shilling and ten pence, while a man 
using two yoke of oxen received six shillings for eight 
hours of labor. Wheelwrights, under the regulations 
of Hingham, in the Massachusetts Bay colony, were 
brought to two shillings per day. But through it all 
and for many years there seemed to be great anxiety 
whenever labor undertook to fix its own price, and if a 
man by any means was enabled to secure wages out of 
the ordinary line he was looked upon with suspicion. 

All through the seventeenth century skilled work- 
men and laborers were subjected to these annoying 
regulations, both in fixing wages and in imposing 
fines for excess. But the law did not stop here, for it 
prohibited excessive prices by dealers. It is learned 
from the records of the Massachusetts colony that an 
edict was issued in 1 645 that workmen were not to be 
forced to take wine in part payment for their services, 
while in 1672 the General Court forbade laborers to de- 
mand liquors as a part of their wages. This latter 
movement was to offset the restriction on the laborers, 



Labor and Wages. 



109 



Of Indians. 



but legislators found then that the toilers of the land 
grew more and more independent with the lapse of years 
and that it was futile to undertake to control them in 
what they should receive for their services. At this time „, 

J . Wages 

(1672) common laborers were paid two shillings, as they ° a f b c ° r m r ni °J 
were forty years before. Women were paid from four to of women, 
five pounds per annum. Indians who worked in the 
fields were paid eighteen pence per day. These wages 
continued, for the records show that a common laborer 
in New England earned two shillings per day at the close 
of the century, and two shillings and three pence to three 
shillings in New York. Skilled labor in the mother- 
country received rather less compensation. With the 
opening of the new century labor received more in this 
country, one John Marshall, of Braintree, being paid 
about four shillings per day from 1697 to 171 1. He was 
what would be called an * ' all-around man, ' ' doing some 
work on farms, making laths in the winter, and working 
as a painter and carpenter and a maker of bricks. 

Wages in the Virginia colony during the same period 
were computed at ten pounds sterling per annum. It is 
somewhat remarkable that wages remained so steady 
during all of the seventeenth century, and in fact there 
was no great change until far into the following century. 
The wages of farm laborers were very generally taken as 
the standard from which the wages paid to mechanics, 
tradesmen, and other laborers were to be computed. * 
At the close of the colonial period agricultural laborers 
were paid only about forty cents per day, and this was 
very little in excess of their wages in the middle of the 
century, the average wages from 1752 to 1760 being in 1752. 
thirty-one cents per day, while butchers in 1780 were Jni76o 
paid but thirty-three and one third cents per day, and 

* See Felt's " History of Massachusetts Currency." 



In Virginia. 



no Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Wages of ship 
and boat- 
builders. 



Prices. 



Variation in 
prices. 



carpenters fifty-two cents. Ship and boatbuilders, when 
the colonial period closed, were paid about ninety cents 
per day, and shoemakers seventy-three cents. Black- 
smiths were paid nearly seventy cents per day. These 
illustrations are sufficient to show the general conditions, 
so far as wages are concerned, of laborers during the 
colonial period. * 

The value of a day's wages cannot be estimated by 
the amount represented in money. That is what politi- 
cal economists call the ' ' nominal ' ' wage. The real 
wage must be determined by considering the prices which 
the laborer is obliged to pay for the necessaries of life, 
and when these are considered it will be found that al- 
though work was plenty and laborers scarce, the work- 
ingman was obliged to pay comparatively high prices, 
thus reducing his real wage. The records give ample 
material for price quotations. In 1630, in the northern 
colonies, while a master mechanic was paid on the aver- 
age, we will say, two shillings per day, he was obliged to 
pay from ten to eleven shillings per bushel for corn and 
fourteen shillings per bushel for wheat, while a good cow 
was worth twenty-five pounds. Many things, however, 
were low, a pound of butter costing but six pence and a 
pound of cheese five pence, and the price of corn and 
wheat varied greatly, for in 1633 corn could be bought 
for six shillings per bushel ; yet in 1635 twelve shillings 
was the price. 

The prices of commodities varied much more than 
the price of labor. Taking a few quotations from 
1740 we find that carpenters and mowers, who re- 
ceived two shillings and six pence per day, paid about 
six shillings per bushel for corn. Summer wheat was 



* See "History of Wages and Prices in Massachusetts," 1752-1883, by the 
author. Boston, 1885. 



Labor and Wages. 



Ill 



seven shillings per bushel and rye six shillings, while 
later in the year corn could be purchased for four shil- 
lings. This latter commodity fell two or three years 
later to two shillings and four pence per bushel, but meal Prices of wheat, 

, 1 1 corn, and rye. 

was fourteen shillings per bushel. In 1640 a cow cost 
but five pounds, while sheep could be bought for ten 
shillings a head, and yearling swine for twenty shillings. 
These prices, however, are not very perfect indica- 
tions of trade prices, as they are often taken from 
schedules of property which might have been sold under 
some stress ; yet they indicate something of what labor 
was called upon to expend for a living. In 1646, if a 
workingman wished to send his child to school, he had 
to pay four shillings per quarter. Indian corn is quoted 
at all sorts of prices, up to ten or twelve shillings and 
down to two shillings per bushel, at different periods ; 
but in the closing years of the seventeenth century it 
was quoted at three shillings per bushel, while wheat was 
selling at five shillings and rye at two shillings and six 
pence per bushel, pork at three pence per pound, and 
beef at two pence per pound. A hogshead of cider pn CeS ofpork 
could be bought for one pound and seven shillings, sell- and Clder * 
ing for from six to seven shillings per gallon. There 
was less variation in prices from 1 700 to the close of the 
colonial period, although during the Revolutionary War 
fluctuations were, of course, great ; but the year before 
the war began, that is, in 1774, corn was worth about 
three shillings per bushel and wheat about six shillings 
per bushel, and at the close of the war corn could be 
bought at from three shillings to three shillings and ten 
pence per bushel, and in 1789, while carpenters were re- 
ceiving three shillings and four pence per day and com- 
mon laborers two shillings and four pence, Indian corn 
was three shillings and two pence per bushel. 



H2 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Women 
workers. 



Spirit of ad- 
venture. 



Conditions. 



The women rarely worked for wages during the period 
now under consideration, but they carded the wool, 
spun the yarn, and wove the cloth for the manufacture 
of the homespun clothing of the male members of the 
family. If they could weave more than was wanted for 
the consumption of the household they sold the surplus 
or traded it in barter for the things they needed and 
which they could not produce. When they worked for 
wages they received from four to five pounds per annum. 
In many instances they worked on the land, and they 
did their share in every way to enable the family not 
only to secure a livelihood but to build itself upon stable 
lines. 

The work of the colonial period, except in the towns 
after they got thickly settled or fairly so, was ever 
the work of pioneers. Their struggle was an arduous 
one — building log houses and supplying the family, and 
when they felt crowded by too many neighbors, starting 
out into the wilderness. The spirit of adventure, the 
spirit of finding what was beyond their own limited 
horizon, their industry, their willingness to work for 
what work brought, gave to our forebears everywhere 
throughout the colonial settlements characters which not 
only sustained them but which enabled them to build a 
new nation. Notwithstanding all the vicissitudes and 
restrictions of petty legislation, the long hours of work, 
the ceaseless round of toil, they were thrifty and fairly 
prosperous. 

After the first half century it must be admitted that 
from a purely physical point of view the working- 
men of the colonial period were fairly comfortable in 
their conditions. They did not have much intellectual 
stimulation, nor did they meet the mental friction which 
belongs to our day. They were without many of the 



Labor and Wages. 



"3 



things which are now necessities, but which to them 
would have been great luxuries, for their wants were 
few and their expectations of acquiring even simple 
luxuries restricted. It is difficult, from any philosoph- Comparison 

. . . r . 1 1 • 1 1 • with present 

ical point 01 view, to say whether they were happier time, 
than the workingmen of the present time, but when 
their struggles are taken into consideration it must be 
conceded that they were far less favorably situated for 
the cultivation of those characteristics which make of 
the workingmen of the present time the basis of social 
stability. They were hardly factors in the politics of 
the colonies — at least they were not so to any such de- 
gree as : he workingmen are now political factors. The 
old English relation of master and servant prevailed, and 
the attempts at legislative regulation of wages showed 
that the influence of the feudal system still exercised 
considerable power over the minds of leaders. They 
had but little education as compared with the working- 
men of our own day, and their children were inured to 
the same kind of toil that belonged to their own con- 
dition. Could they have foreseen the circumstances and 
the environment of the workingmen of the present day 
they would have considered that the dream of the social 
philosophers of their day was to be realized, for they had 
none of the amenities of life that are free now on every 
hand. 

The colonists secured one thing which the working- 

fe & Freedom of 

man appreciated. They were free men ; they were not workingmen. 

tied to the soil, such servitude which had wrought great 

evil under the feudal system being utterly forbidden. 

There was no villeinage nor serfdom, and the condition 

of the laborer was far in advance of his condition in 

England or on the Continent, but while the demands 

for common labor were active, the demands for higher 



H4 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Scarcity of 
money. 



Opposition to 

arbitrary 

wages. 



priced master workmen were not so great. Money was 
scarce and men were, in general, seeking an independent 
home and the opportunity to better themselves by ob- 
taining land. As population increased the demand for 
laborers by farmers increased, and Indians and negro 
slaves came in to complicate matters. There was always 
rebellion among the master workmen and the better class 
of common laborers against the arbitrary wages decreed 
by courts, and so they preferred to live on their own 
land. This movement of course restricted the supply 
of labor and at the same time restricted the opportunities 
not only for the diversification of industries but for the 
expansion of individual wants. The colonists were vig- 
orous in their efforts to settle the country and as rigid in 
their views as they were vigorous. Narrow in their con- 




An American Plow of 1776. 



ceptions of life, exclusive in their relations, dogmatic in 
their opinions, strangers to pleasure, with the knowledge 
now open to all a sealed book to them, it is difficult to 
understand that they could have been happier than are 
their posterity ; yet there must have been great pleasure 
in subduing the hard conditions they met on every 
hand and in feeling that they were overcoming obstacles. 
Their victory over nature and their constant progress 
were their great reward and the source of their con- 
tentment. 



PART II. 

THE EVOLUTION OF INDUSTRY: 
i 790-1890. 



PART II— THE EVOLUTION OF INDUSTRY: 



Colonial period. 



I79O-189O. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FACTORY SYSTEM. 

In treating industry and labor in the colonial days, 
the colonial period for the purposes of this work has 
been considered as closing March 4, 1789, when the 
present government of the United States went into op- 
eration under the new constitution. Politically speak- 
ing, the colonial period ended when the people of the 
colonies declared themselves free and independent of 
the government of Great Britain and that the United 
Colonies should be free and independent states ; for at 
that time, July 4, 1776, the colonies assumed independ- 
ent positions, and from that time each colony took the 
name of ' 1 state. ' ' The date of the Declaration of In- Date of 
dependence, therefore, must be considered, from a po- Eid C ependence f 
litical standpoint, as the birthday of the nation. Indus- pSofview 11 
trially speaking, however, this cannot be so considered, 
and it is a little difficult to determine, from an industrial 
point of view, exactly what date to assign for the closing 
of the colonial period. The states, as they had declared 
themselves, adopted Articles of Confederation March 1, 
1 78 1. The people of the colonies had made the Decla- 
ration of Independence, but the Continental Congress 
which made the declaration was practically a committee 
of conference, and the Continental Congress under the 
Articles of Confederation, adopted March 1, 1781, was 

117 



1 1 8 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Colonial status 
of industry. 



Variation in 
duties. 



Change in 

commercial 

conditions. 



but little more. The colonial status existed so far as in- 
dustry and commerce were concerned, and even after 
the definitive peace signed at Paris September 3, 1783, 
when the results of the declaration of 1776 were secured 
and all the world recognized the new nation, the indus- 
trial colonial status still existed, and such condition con- 
tinued until the adoption of the new constitution in 
1787, which went into effect March 4, 1789 — in fact, it 
was largely to relieve the states of the colonial status, 
industrially and commercially speaking, that the new 
constitution was framed. Prior to that each state regu- 
lated its own commerce and could and did restrict inter- 
state commerce. Duties on foreign commerce varied, 
according to the views and conditions existing in each 
state. For these reasons it has been thought proper, in 
treating of the industries and labor in colonial days in 
the preceding chapters, to consider the colonial period 
as ending March 4, 1789. 

This is logical, again, from the fact that contempo- 
raneous with the adoption of the constitution new forces 
came into existence which affected, and vitally, the in- 
dustrial situation. The commerce of each of the states 
became the commerce of the United States. The change 
in the method of manufacturing goods came then, and 
the birth of the factory system in this country followed 
the birth of the present constitutional government. The 
second act under the constitution was passed July 4, 
1789, with this preamble : 

Whereas, it is necessary for the support of the government, 
for the discharge of the debts of the United States, and for the 
encouragement and the protection of manufactures, that duties 
be laid on goods, wares, and merchandise imported : 

Be it enacted, etc. 



This act, which need not be given, paved the way for 



The Development of the Factory System. 119 



the importation of the factory system of industry, which 
had already been established in the mother-country. * 

When the states had won their political independence 
they found themselves still dependent industrially upon States depend- 

. . tit .. . ent u P°n Great 

Great Britain, and largely on account of restrictive legis- Britain, 
lation. England sought by every means to prevent the 
introduction of mechanical industry into the United 
States. This was the uniform course all through the 
colonial period, and after 1760, when cotton-spinning 
machinery had been invented and perfected to a prac- 
tical degree, England sought to retain to herself all the 
benefits which might accrue from the great inventions 
that had been made. These inventions consisted of 
means for spinning and weaving by machinery, and were 
brought into practical use under the patents of various 
inventors. Prior to 1767 all yarn used in the manufac- 
ture of textiles of all kinds was spun in single threads 
upon the domestic spinning-wheel, and the weaving had 
been done on the old cumbersome hand-loom. The 
principal machines for spinning were perfected by Har- 
greaves and Arkwright, who broke down the barrier 
which had long obstructed the advance of the cotton 
manufacture and practically inaugurated the factory sys- 
tem of the United States, which must date from the time 
of their inventions. But it took the power-loom, invented 
by Dr. Edward Cartwright, in 1785, to give the spinning Power * loom - 
machinery all its power, for prior to his invention all the 
yarn spun by the power machines had been woven into 
cloth by the hand-loom weavers. The power-loom, there- 
fore, closed the catalogue of machines essential to the 
opening of the new era of mechanical supremacy. This 

* This account of the development of the factory system in the United 
States is taken quite largely from the "Report on the Factory System cf vhe 
United States," to be found in Vol. II., Reports of the Tenth Census, which 
the author made to the Superintendent of Census in 1882. 



1 20 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



series of inventions was applied during the score of years 
from 1765 to 1785, and England possessed these inven- 
tions and was determined to maintain the sole possession 
thereof. 

The application of steam aided the rapid development 
Use of steam. G f the new order of things, for on the breaking out of 
the American war the steam-engine passed beyond its 
primitive use in draining mines, etc., and was rapidly 
adopted for all kinds of manufacturing industry. Tex- 
tile mills had been located upon streams of water, from 
which power was obtained. With the application of the 
steam-engine such location was no longer a physical ne- 
cessity, for mills could be built and run near large towns, 
whose crowded population could supply their operatives. 

It will be seen, therefore, that England, at the close of 
the Revolution, and even at the time of the adoption of 
our constitution, held, as she supposed, the key to the 
industrial world of cotton manufacture ; she certainly 
held the machinery, without which such manufacture 
could not be carried on in competition with her own 
mills. Parliament passed stringent laws prohibiting the 
exportation of machines, plans, and models of machines. 
The English policy began to shape itself with regard to 
trade outside the island, and that policy was to buy as 
little as possible and sell to everybody, and to use the 
S^rJun/ted colonies, and even the states after they passed into inde- 

States 

pendent condition, as the ever-increasing market for her 
products. She possessed all the raw material for a large 
list of products, but cotton was wanting. This she ex- 
pected to receive from India. The American colonies had 
been destined for her food-raising department and for an 
outlet for her surplus manufactures. This had been her 
expressed policy before the war, and this policy had stim* 
ulated her to the long-continued strife which followed. 



The Development of the Factory System. 121 



By 14 Geo. III., c. 71, it was enacted that if any per- 
son exported any tools or utensils commonly used in the 
cotton or linen manufactures, or other goods wherein cot- 
ton or linen was used, or any parts of such tools or uten- 
sils, he should not only forfeit the same, but also £200. 
Even the possession of such implements, with a view to 
exportation, made them liable to seizure and the possessor 
to arrest. This law was passed in 1774, and related 
to the inventions of Arkwright and Hargreaves. This 
legislation on the part of England was contemporaneous 
with the non-importation resolutions of the American 
colonies, nearly all of which, prior to the Revolution, 
took active steps, as has been seen, to encourage manu- 
factures. 

The difficulties, therefore, under which the people of 
the United States labored in securing the development 
of their manufactures with the use of the new machinery 
of England were aggravated by legislation. This country, 
however, had the natural position which would enable it 
to develop the textile industry, for here, as well as in 
England, existed the germ of the textile factory in the 
fulling and carding-mills which had been erected at con- 
venient localities in nearly all the colonies ; and cotton 
could be raised in the Southern States, and thus be util- 
ized as nearly at first hands as possible, certainly with an 
advantage over European competition, for Western 
Europe was obliged to secure its cotton from India. To 
secure the factory system there must be the machinery 
which England was using, and to get this required efforts 
and struggles which brought out the patriotism and the 
courage of the manufacturers of the time. 

The first attempts to secure the spinning machinery 
which had come into use in England were made in Phila- 
delphia early in the year 1775, w hen probably the first 



Exportation 
of tools 
prohibited. 



Difficulties of 

establishing 

manufactures. 



First attempts 
to secure textile 
machinery. 



122 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



spinning-jenny ever seen in America was exhibited in 
that city. During the war the manufacturers of Phila- 
delphia extended their enterprises, and even built and 
run mills which writers often call factories, but which can 
hardly be classed under that term. They were mills 
Efforts preiimi- rather than factories. Similar efforts, all preliminary to 

nary to factory 1 J 

system. the establishment of the factory system of labor, were 

made in Worcester, Mass., in 1780. In 1781 the British 
Parliament, determined that the textile machinery by 
which the manufactures of England were being rapidly 
extended, and which the continental producers were 
anxious to secure, should not be used by the people of 
America, reenacted and enlarged the scope of the statute 
English laws of 1774 against its exportation, to which reference has 
exportation of been made. So by 21 Geo. III., c. 37, it was provided 
that any person who packed or put on board, or caused 
to be brought to any place in order to be put on any 
vessel for exportation, any machine, engine, tool, press, 
paper, utensil, or implement, or any part thereof, which 
then was or thereafter might be used in the woolen, cot- 
ton, linen, or silk manufacture of the kingdom, or goods 
wherein wool, cotton, linen, or silk was used, or any 
model or plan of such machinery, tool, engine, press, 
utensil, or implement, should forfeit every such machine, 
etc. , and all goods packed therewith, and ^200, and also 
suffer imprisonment for one year ; and the next year, 
1782, a law was enacted which prohibited, under penalty 
of ^500, the exportation or the attempt to export 
"blocks, plates, engines, tools, or utensils used in or 
which are proper for the preparing or finishing of the 
calico, cotton, muslin, or linen printing manufactures, or 
any part thereof. ' ' The same act prohibited the trans- 
portation of tools employed in the iron and steel manu- 
factures. Acts were also passed which interdicted the 



The Development of the Factory System. 123 



emigration of artificers. All these laws were enforced 
with great vigilance, and were, of course, serious obstacles 
to the institution of the new system of manufacture in 
America. So the Americans were compelled either to 
smuggle or to invent their machinery, and it is simply a 
matter of history that both methods were practiced until 
most of the secrets of the manufacture of cotton goods 
were made available in this country. 

The planting of the mechanic arts became a necessity 
in this country during the War of the Revolution, and 
afterward the spirit of American enterprise demanded 
that New England and the Middle States should utilize 
the water-powers which they possessed, and by such 
utilization supply the people with home manufactures, 
and thus secure industrial as well as political independ- 
ence. It was therefore very natural that when the 
people of the new nation saw that the treaty of Paris had 
not brought industrial independence a new form of ex- 
pression of patriotism should take the place of military 
service. In obedience to this expression associations 
were formed the object of which was to discourage the 
use of British goods, and as the Articles of Confedera- 
tion, adopted March 1, 1781, did not provide for the 
regulation of commerce, the legislatures of the several 
states were besought by the people to protect home 
manufactures. The constitution of 1789 remedied the 
defects of the articles in this respect and gave Congress 
the power to legislate on commercial affairs ; and, as 
already intimated, the constitution was really the out- 
come of the industrial necessities of the people, because 
it was largely on account of the difficulties and the irri- 
tations growing out of the various commercial regula- 
tions of the individual states that a convention of com- 
missioners from the various states was held in Annapolis 



Necessity of 
mechanic arts. 



Benefits of con- 
stitution of 1789 
in developing 
industry. 



124 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Experiments in 
Massachusetts. 



in September, 1786, which convention recommended the 
one that framed the new or present constitution of the 
United States. 

The great question then was how to secure textile ma- 
chinery like that used in England. In 1786 the legis- 
lature of Massachusetts offered encouragement for the 




First textile 
factory. 



Weaving Room in a Cotton-Mill, Lowell, Mass. 

introduction of machinery for carding and spinning by 
granting Robert and Alexander Ban* £200 to enable 
them to complete a roping machine, and also to "con- 
struct such other machines as are necessary for the pur- 
pose of carding, roping,* and spinning of sheep's wool, 
as well as of cotton-wool," and in all probability the 
machinery built by the Barrs was the first in this country 
which included the Arkwright devices. The first estab- 
lishment, however, which can by any interpretation be 
considered a textile factory was erected at Beverly, 
Mass., in 1787. The legislature aided this enterprise. 

* Roping.— The act of drawing out or extending a substance into a filament 
or thread. 



The Development of the Factory System. 125 



The factory continued in operation for several years, 

but its career as a cotton factory was brief, and it did , Ai 4 ed }y , 

J ' legislature of 

not meet with much success. During the same period Massachusetts, 
other attempts were made in Rhode Island, New York, 
and Pennsylvania, but chiefly in Rhode Island and in 
that part of Massachusetts lying contiguous to that state. 

To the states just named belongs the honor of the in- 
troduction of power-spinning machines in this country 
and their early practical use here. Rhode Island and 
Massachusetts certainly have equal claims, for while in 
the latter state the first experiments were made in em- 
bodying the principles of Arkwright's inventions and First factory 

J ° t 1 1 using English 

in the erection of the primitive cotton factory, Rhode methods. 

Island is entitled to the credit of erecting the first factory 

in which perfected machinery, made after the English 

models, was practically employed. The history of the 

establishment of this factory is somewhat romantic. It 

was built by Samuel Slater in 1790, in Pawtucket, R. I. Samuel slater. 

All efforts at the introduction of the English methods 
of spinning had failed, but Slater, called by President 
Jackson "the father of American manufactures," suc- 
ceeded in introducing them. He was born in Belper, 
Derbyshire, England, June 9, 1768, and at fourteen 
years of age was bound as an apprentice to Jedediah 
Strutt, Esq. , a manufacturer of cotton machinery. Mr. 
Strutt was for several years a partner of Sir Richard 
Arkwright in the cotton-spinning business ; so Slater 
had every opportunity to master the details of the con- 
f struction of the cotton machinery then in use in Eng- 
land, for during the last four or five years of his appren- 
ticeship he served as general overseer, not only in 
making machinery, but in the manufacturing department 
of Strutt' s factory. Near the close of his term, acci- 
dentally seeing a notice in an American paper of the 



126 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Slater's plans. 



Slater's arrival 
in New York. 



Slater's con- 
struction of 
spinning 
machinery in 
America. 



efforts which were being made in the different parts of 
the United States to secure cotton machinery and of the 
bounties which were offered to parties who might suc- 
ceed in so doing, Slater determined to remove to this 
country. He very well knew the provisions of the 
English laws, and that under them he could carry neither 
machines nor models nor plans of machines to the States. 
He therefore completed his full time with Mr. Strutt, and 
then continued with him for a period superintending 
some new works which Mr. Strutt was erecting. He 
did this that he might perfect his knowledge of the busi- 
ness in every department so thoroughly that he could 
construct machinery from memory, and thus bring over in 
his head the knowledge which he could not bring either 
in plans, models, or specifications ; so Slater embarked 
at London September 13, 1789, with a most precious 
cargo, but a cargo that was contained entirely in his 
own brain. He landed in New York November 17, 
1789, and there made connections with parties interested 
in cotton manufacture ; but not meeting with just the 
encouragement he expected, he corresponded with 
Messrs. Brown and Almy, of Providence, R. I., who 
owned some crude spinning machines, some of which 
had been brought from the primitive factory at Beverly, 
Mass. In the following January, 1790, Slater made ar- 
rangements with these parties to construct machinery 
on the English plan. This he succeeded in doing at 
Pawtucket, making the machinery principally with his 
own hands, and on the 20th of December, 1790, he 
started three cards, drawing and roving, together with 
seventy-two spindles, working entirely on the Arkwright 
plan, and these were the first of the kind ever operated 
in America. 

South Carolina comes in, and very properly, for some 



The Development of the Factory System. 



127 



of the claims in this respect, although the record is not 

clear. A writer in the American Museum, in July, 1790, Early cotton 

J J ' ' J machinery in 

refers to a man in that state who had completed and had South Carolina, 
in operation on the High Hills of the Santee, ginning, 
carding, and other machines driven by water, and also 
spinning machines, with eighty-four spindles each, with 
every necessary article for manufacturing cotton ; and 
the writer further states that ' ' if this information be cor- 
rect, the attempt to manufacture by machinery the cot- 
ton which they were then beginning to cultivate exten- 
sively (in the Southern States) was nearly as early as 
those of the Northern States." 

Similar efforts were also made at Philadelphia, as 
already intimated, by Samuel Wetherell, and his attempts, 
as were those of 
the Beverly com- 
pany in Massachu- 
setts, of the gentle- 
man in South 
Carolina, and of 
Brown and Almy 
in Providence, 
were all b e f o r e 
Slater's coming. 
While these at- 
tempts to intro- 
duce spinning by 
power did not com- 
prehend the Eng- 
lish devices and 
methods in full, 
they illustrate the 

difficulty of locating the origin of the factory system. 
Notwithstanding these efforts, however, it is considered 




Efforts before 
Slater's coming. 



A. Eli Whitney's Original Cotton-Gin. 

B. Later form of the same invention. 



128 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Slater the first 
to erect EngHsh 
.machinery. 



safe, historically, to start with Slater as the first to erect 
cotton machinery on the English plan, and this gives 
1790 as the year of the birth of the factory system in 
the United States. 

Another feature came in about this time which en- 
couraged the growth of the factory system, not only in 
this country, but abroad. This was the invention of a 
machine for separating the lint from the seed of the cot- 
ton plant. This had been done by slow, laborious proc- 
esses conducted by hand, but in 1794 Eli Whitney, of 
Massachusetts, who was residing temporarily in Georgia, 
The cotton-gin. invented the cotton-gin,* by which the lint was picked 




Hulling Cotton-gin, with Feeder, Breaker, and Condenser. 



from the seed by means of sawteeth projecting through 

Circumstances s Ji ts j n t h e s [^q Q f a chamber in which the Seed of the COt- 
attending the 

invention of the i on is placed. Mr. Whitney was visiting some friends 

cotton-gin. r J , . c 

one day, when mention was made of the difficulties of 
separating the fleece of the cotton plant from the seed 

* Cotton-gin.— A machine used in separating the seeds from cotton fibers. 



The Development of the Factory System. 1 29 



which filled it and of the value of some machine, could 
the same be invented, for accomplishing this purpose, 
and he proceeded at once to elaborate the ideas which 
were essential for securing the desired result. By 




The cotton-gin 
stimulated the 
use of cotton. 



The Self-Acting Mule. 

its use cotton became a more thoroughly marketable 
article and its production vastly stimulated. The de- 
velopment of cotton-raising in the South, and now of the 
cotton manufactures of the South, is due very largely to 
this invention. 

The factory, however, needed perfection scientifically. 
In the old country, where it exists in great perfection, it J^J^ rkct 
did not reach the completed structure at as early a date 
as it did in America. The processes of cleaning the fiber 
and of spinning the same into yarn were carried on by 
one set of works, while the weaving and the finishing 
were carried on by others, usually in separate establish- 
ments. The perfect factory, the scientific arrangement 
of parts for the successive processes necessary for the 
manipulation of the raw material till it came out finished 
goods, had not been constructed when the system was 
established in this country. The power-loom, although 
invented in 1785, did not come into use in England until 



Efforts of 
Francis C. 
Lowell. 



Cotton factory 
at Waltham, 
Mass. 



130 hidustrial Evolution of the United States, 

about 1806, while in this country it was not used at all 
till after the War of 181 2 ; but even after it came into use 
in England the custom of spinning- the yarn under one 
management and weaving the cloth under another pre- 
vailed. 

In 181 1 Mr. Francis C. Lowell, of Boston, visited 



England and spent much time in inspecting cotton fac- 
tories, with the view to the introduction of improved 
machinery in the United States. His visit was about the 
time when the power-loom was being introduced in Great 
Britain, but, as occurred in other respects, its construc- 
tion was kept very secret. Mr. Lowell, however, learned 
all he could regarding it and came home with the de- 
termination of perfecting it. With the skill of Paul 
Moody, of Amesbury, Mass., and through the encour- 
agement of Nathan Appleton, a company had been or- 
ganized for the establishment of a cotton manufactory, to 
be located in Waltham, Mass., on a water privilege which 




English Power-Loom for Weaving Calico. 



The Development of the Factory System. 131 



existed there. The factory was completed in the autumn 

of 1 8 14, and in it was placed the loom which Mr. 

Lowell had perfected, having neither plans nor models, 

and in that year his company set up a full set of 

machinery for weaving and spinning, there being 1,700 

spindles in use. This factory erected at Waltham was 

the first in the world, so far as any record shows, in which 

all the processes involved in the manufacture of goods, 

from the raw material to the finished product, were car- J he scientific 

. factory. 

ried on in one establishment by successive steps, mathe- 
matically considered, under one harmonious system. Mr. 
Lowell, aided by Mr. Patrick T. Jackson, who was as- 
sociated with him, is unquestionably entitled to the credit 
of arranging this admirable system. Few changes have 
been made in the arrangement organized at the Waltham 
factory. 

So while England furnished the foundation of the in- 
dustrial structure known as the factory system of manu- 
facture, America furnished the stone which completed 
the arch. 



CHAPTER XL 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIES, I79O-1860. 



The foundation 
of our indus- 
tries. 



Expansion 
since 1800. 



Natural 
periods. 



The impetus was now given in good earnest for the 
rapid development of the great industries of the country. 
Their foundations had been laid in colonial days in the 
constitution of 1789 and in the successful planting of the 
factory system. Patriotic enthusiasm called into exist- 
ence many societies all through the states for the pro- 
tection and encouragement of industrial undertakings. 
All the great industries, those that are now the great 
industries, as has been stated, were in existence and so 
fully recognized, not only by this country, but by 
England, that they needed only the fostering care of 
enterprise and the persistent effort of proprietors of 
capital and of labor to secure rapid development. From 
the beginning of this century to the present time the 
expansion has been steady and rapid, although not 
always constant. There have been periods when ad- 
verse conditions resulted in great stagnation here and 
there, but these conditions have always been overcome 
and the industries carried along. 

While the story of the development of industries since 
the organization of the government belongs in a large 
sense to one grand period, it is naturally divided into 
two principal periods, one including the years from 1790 
to i860, and the other the years from i860 to the present 
time. This division is natural on account of, first, the 
Civil War, and, second, the renewed and accelerated 

132 



The Development of Industries, ij 90- 1860. 133 



stimulation which came from the war, the discovery of 
greater wealth of resources, and the invention and adap- 
tation of new processes of production. So the story, for 
the purposes of this work, is divided into these two pe- 
riods, and the present chapter devoted to that from 1790 
to i860. It is difficult, however, in this comprehensive 
history, to deal with the extension of the industries of 
the country in any particular detail, general statements 
being all that can be allowed. 

After the success of the power-loom the cotton manu- 
facture took rapid strides and the hand-loom and the Displacement of 

r . hand labor. 

hand-weaver were quickly displaced, although they lin- 
ger in some parts of the country, especially in North 
Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. Factories sprung up 
on the streams of New England and the Middle States, 
and purely factory towns, like Lowell, Lawrence, Hol- 
yoke, Fall River, Cohoes, Paterson, and many other 
thriving places, were erected, and before the close of the 
war the industry had taken root upon the banks of 
southern rivers. 

The growth of this particular industry well illustrates 
that of all industries, and its effects are certainly illus- 
trative of the results of the new system. The first facts 
relative to the cotton industry which are obtainable are Cotton 
for 1 8 10, when the federal government made the first 
attempt, through the machinery of the decennial census, 
to ascertain the condition and value of the products of l g I0 . 
the country ; but it is impossible, from the statements of 
that census, to ascertain the exact amount of the cotton 
goods produced, although the value of cotton, wool, flax, 
hemp, and silk, including stockings, amounted to $39,- 
497.057. 

In 1 83 1 there were 801 cotton factories in the whole Cotton factory 

^ m in 1831. 

country ; in 1840 there were 1,240 ; in 1850 there were 



134 industrial Evolution of the United States. 



1,074, an d in i860 there were 1,091. This decrease in 
the number of establishments since 1850 is the result of 
consolidation and the establishment of large works, the 
smaller factories having closed or united with the larger 
ones. While the number of factories decreased in the 
thirty years prior to i860, the consumption of cotton 
and the production of goods steadily increased. In 




Weaving Room in a Southern Cotton-Mill. 



1 83 1 the total number of spindles in this industry was 
1,246,703, while in i860 the number had increased to 
5,235,727, and the number of looms arose from 33,433 
in 1 83 1 to 126,313 in i860. The capital invested in the 
cotton industry in 1831 was $40,612,984, and in i860 
$98,585,269. The value of the products in 1831 cannot 
be stated. The value of cotton goods in i860 was $1 15,- 
681,774, there being $79,359,900 produced in the New 



The Development of Industries, iygo-1860. 135 



England States, $26,534,700 in the Middle States, $8,- 
460,337 in the Southern States, and $1,326,837 in the 
Western States. In 1S31 there was but $290,000 in- 
vested in the Southern States in the cotton industry, but 
in i860 these states used a capital of $9,840,221. So at 
the close of our first period the Southern States had Cotton industry 

r in the Southern 

demonstrated the fact that the cotton industry could states, 
exist there. This great representative industry was on 
a firm basis at the close of the first period. 

In the chapters relating to industries in the colonial 
days but little could be said of the iron industry, be- Iron industry 
cause it had not been developed to so great an extent at 
the close of the colonial period as some other industries ; 
but early in the present century, and in fact during the 
closing decennial period of the last, the manufacture of 
iron assumed gratifying proportions. It had an existence 
in the eastern part of Pennsylvania and in the other 
colonies, but it had not successfully crossed the Alle- 
ghenies, although it had received new impulse east of 
the mountains after the Revolution. The counties of 
Chester, Lancaster, and Berks were conspicuous in the 
development of the great staple manufacturing industry 
of Pennsylvania in the early part of the period now un- 
der consideration. Mr. Swank, in his excellent work, 
" Iron in All Ages," states that many blast furnaces and General prog- 
forges and a few rolling and slitting-mills were built in industry. 6 ir ° 
these counties before 1800, and that their activity con- 
tinued after the beginning of the present century. 
Other iron-producing counties of the eastern half of 
Pennsylvania joined in the general progress of the in- 
dustry, giving it a firm foundation which has never been 
shaken. 

Western Pennsylvania was, of course, later in the es- 
tablishment of the iron industry than the eastern part. 



136 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Discovery of 
ore west of the 
Alleghenies. 



First foundry 
at Pittsburg. 



Revolution in 
iron industry. 



There is a tradition that the first discovery of iron ore 
west of the Allegheny Mountains was made by John 
Hayden in the winter of 1789-90, on the eve of the new 
period. The fact is, however, as testified to by good 
authorities, that iron had been discovered at least nine 
years before Hayden' s alleged discovery ; but whenever 
the discovery was made, it was the opening of a wonder- 
fully successful industrial career which has rarely been 
equaled in the history of a people, and the development 
of the industry in the western counties of Pennsylvania 
was rapid and satisfactory. 

Of course, some districts were abandoned and others 
took their places, but Allegheny County, the great iron- 
producing county of western Pennsylvania, began its 
operations at a practically recent period, a small furnace 
being built by one George Anshutz, who is called the 
pioneer of the iron manufactures of Pittsburg, in 1792. 
In 1794 it was abandoned for want of ore. It had been 
expected that ore could be obtained in the vicinity, but 
the expectation was not realized. This enterprise was 
very largely devoted to the casting of stoves and grates. 
Anshutz removed to Huntingdon County, where, with 
others, he built the Huntingdon furnace in 1796. 

The first iron foundry at Pittsburg was established in 
1803, on the site of the present post-office and the city 
hall of that place. From these beginnings Pittsburg in 
1829 had grown to the dignity of having eight rolling- 
mills, using 6,000 tons of blooms and 1,500 tons of pig- 
iron. In the same year there were nine foundries, while 
in 1 83 1 two steel furnaces were in operation at Pitts- 
burg. In 1856 there were in Pittsburg and in Allegheny 
County twenty-five rolling-mills. 

About the year 1 840 a revolution was created in the 
iron industry of the country by the introduction of bi- 



The Development of Industries, 1790-1860. 137 



tuminous and anthracite coal in the blast furnace, and 
since about 1850 the manufacture of charcoal iron in 
Pennsylvania furnaces has declined. 

These two great industries are indicative of the whole indicative 

character or 

expansion, for in nearly all industries the conditions of textile and ii 

r J _ industries. 

growth were practically the same. This growth can be 
clearly understood by stating the results of two accounts 
of manufactures, one taken in 18 10 and the other in 
1S60. For the first year the marshals employed in tak- 
ing the census reported the value of goods manufactured 
by the loom, of cotton, wool, flax, hemp, and silk, with 
stockings, as stated, at $39,497,057 ; other goods of 
these five materials, spun, §2,052,120 ; instruments and 
machinery manufactured, $186,650; carding, fulling, 
and floor-cloth stamping by machinery, $5,957,816 ; 
hats of wool, fur, etc., and of mixtures of them, $4,323,- Products in 
744; manufactures of iron, $14,364,526; manufactures 
of gold, silver, set work, mixed metals, etc., $2,483,912; 
manufactures of lead, $325,560; soap, tallow candles, 
wax, and spermaceti, spring oil and whale oil, $1,766,- 
292; manufactures of hides and skins, $17,935,477; 
manufactures from seeds, $858,509; grain, fruit, and case 
liquors, distilled and fermented, $16,528,207; dry manu- 
factures from grain, exclusively of flour, meal, etc., 
$75,766; manufactures of wood, $5,554,708; manufac- 
tures of essences and oils, of and from wood, $179, 150 ; 
refined or manufactured sugars, $1,415,724; manufac- 
tures of paper, pasteboard, cards, etc., $1,939,285 ; 
manufactures of marble, stone, and slate, $462, 115; glass 
manufactures, $1,047,004; earthen manufactures, $259,- 
720; manufactures of tobacco, $1,260,378; drugs, 
dye-stuffs, paints, etc., and dyeing, $500,382 ; cables and 
cordage, $4,243,168; manufactures of hair, $129,731; 
various and miscellaneous manufactures, $4,347,601. 



138 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Report of 
Tench Coxe, 
1813. 



Distribution of 
the product 
over the states. 



Products in 
i860. 



Mr. Tench Coxe, acting under the directions of the 
secretary of the treasury, Mr. Albert Gallatin, made a 
valuable analysis of the manufacturing products of the 
United States, and the foregoing figures are taken from 
his statement. His report was completed in May, 1813, 
and published by Congress. The total value of all the 
manufactures of the country in 18 10, as given by Mr. 
Coxe, was $127,694,602. By estimating the omitted 
products Mr. Coxe extended this amount to $172,762,- 
676, and by adding some doubtful articles, embracing 
such manufactures as from their nature were nearly allied 
to agriculture, as, for example, cotton-pressing, flour 
and meal, productions of grain and sawmills, the manu- 
facture of bricks, tiles, and some other articles, he con- 
cluded that the aggregate value of the manufactures of 
every description in the United States in 18 10 was 
$198,613,474. ^ 

The distribution of this vast product over the states 
shows that Pennsylvania stood at the head, with $33,- 
691,111, New York coming next with over $25,000,000; 
then Massachusetts, with nearly $22,000,000 ; Virginia, 
with $15,250,000, in round numbers; Maryland, with 
nearly $11, 500, 000 ; Connecticut, with over $7,750, 000 ; 
New Jersey, with over $7,000,000; North Carolina, with 
over $6,500,000; Kentucky, with over $6,000,000, 
while Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South 
Carolina, Georgia, and Maine manufactured products 
varying from $3,500,000 to $5,500,000, in round num- 
bers. 

In i860 the value of the products of American me- 
chanical industries had reached $1,885,861,676, but 
the statement by industries for that year cannot be 
given in detail. The values may be given for some of 
the principal industries, however. The total value of all 



The Development of Industries, iygo-1860. 139 



kinds of cotton goods was $115,681,774. The value of 
woolen goods was $61,895,217. Clothing had by this §™jjjng° f 
time become a great industry. It had grown up within industr y- 
a few years of the close of the first period, and in all the 
principal cities had become an industry of magnitude and 
importance, the value of the product being $73,219,765. 
The great industry of boots and shoes, which is closely 
allied to that of clothing, and which was, at the period 
being considered, beginning to feel the influence of the 
factory system of labor, represented, in i860, a product 
worth $91,891,498. 

A new industry had come into existence in the form of 
water-proof goods. There are but few branches show- 
ing a more remarkable development than this, for in the 
space of twenty-five or thirty years rubber had been ap- 
plied in very many departments of production of the 
arts and sciences and domestic economy ; yet in i860 
this industry was practically in its infancy, the value of 
the india rubber goods, however, amounting to $5,768,- 
450. These figures, which will be brought into compari- 
son in the next period, need not be extended here. 
They are more emphatic when compared with the results 
for 1890. 

The distribution of the manufactures over the states? 
and territories in i860 was, of course, far more general £anufectures! f 
than in 18 10, not only through the increase in the num- 
ber of states and the extension of manufactures in con- 
sequence, but also over the states that were named for 
1 8 10. New York, however, led all the states in i860, 
the value of her manufactures for the year being 379 
million. Pennsylvania came second, with over 296 mil- 
lion, Massachusetts being third, with over 255 million. 
These three states are the only ones which passed the 
200 million line ; and there was only one state coming 



140 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



between 100 million and 200 million, Ohio, which pro- 
duced 122 million dollars' worth of goods, while in 1810 
her productions were too insignificant for mention. The 
states passing the 50 million line were Connecticut, with 
nearly 82 million ; New Jersey, with over 76 million ; 
California, with over 68 million ; Illinois, with over 57^ 
million ; Virginia, with over 50^ million. All the other 
states came below the 50 million line. 

The influences which brought about this great expan- 
infiuences sion of our manufacturing industries prior to i860 were 

resulting in . *~ . 

expansion. referred to m opening this chapter. There had been 
fluctuations growing out of the War of 181 2, the stagna- 
tions of 1837, and the depression of 1857, but from 1830 
the course was constant and upward. The influences 
which secured this must be considered as permanent and 
as not affected materially by periods of depression, arti- 
ficial stimulation, or the forces of war in either direction. 

Among these influences the ingenuity of American in- 
ventors should not be lost sight of and the inventions re- 
sulting from the exercise of this ingenuity were adopted 
with eagerness by the American manufacturers. New 
processes, simplifying methods and reducing cost, were 
constantly sought for and applied. It is a curious fact, 
well known to those familiar with patents, that depressed 
periods often result in the stimulation of invention. In 
1857 there were 2,900 patents issued, 438 being for agri- 
cultural implements and processes. These related to the 
invention and improvement of cotton-gins, rice-cleaners, 
and fertilizers. The very next year, the year following 
the financial crisis, there were 3.710 patents issued, 562 
of these relating to agricultural implements and processes, 
152 being for improvements in reaping and mowing ma- 
chines, 42 for improvements in cotton-gins and cotton 
presses, 164 for improvements in steam-engines, and 198 



The Development of Industries, 1790-1860. 141 



for improvements in railroads and railroad cars. Prior to 
1849 the number of patents issued had never exceeded 
660 annually, but from 1849 to i860, inclusive, the num- 
ber never fell below 1,000, except for the years 1850, 
1 85 1, and 1853, while for i860 the number rose to 4,819. 

It would be very interesting, and very profitable too, 
to the student of the evolution of American industries to 
examine carefully the character of the inventions granted inventions, 
during the last twenty or thirty years of the period end- 
ing with i860, and in this period it would be found that 
there were patented some of the most important inven- 
tions of the age, important, at least, in respect to the 
wants of the people. 
They related to im- 
provements in 
looms for producing 
figured fabrics ; to 
air-heating stoves, 
cooking stoves, 
musical instru- 
ments, firearms, 
sewing machines, 

printing presses, boot and shoe machinery, rubber 
goods, floor-cloths, and thousands of other inventions 
tending to raise and improve the standard of the living 
of the people. 

Perhaps the most striking illustration of the influ- 
ence of inventions is to be found in the manufacture of 
boots and shoes, to which reference has already been 
made. This industry was formerly carried on in little 
shops, in which a few men, rarely more than four, worked 
upon the bench, upon stock received from the manufac- 
turer, cut out and ready to be put together. These 
little shops are closed ; the great shoe factory has taken 




The Sewing Machine. 



Boot and shoe- 
making. 



142 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



their place, and in it is to be seen the perfect adaptation 
Application of of the manufacture of goods by successive, harmonious 

harmonious . . 

processes. processes, lo all industries where such successive, 
harmonious processes can be applied, that is, where 
raw material can be converted into finished goods by- 
consecutive actions, carried along by a central power, 
the factory system of labor has been adapted. In 
all textile manufactures this has been the case, while 
outside the textile trades the expansion of the new sys- 
tem has been rapid, until the statistics of industry in the 
United States comprehend in large degree the statistics 
of manufactures under the factory system. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE CIVIL WAR J AN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. 

With the Civil War there began a new industrial era, 
not only on account of the expansion of mechanical New industrial 
industries, as related, but on account of the wonderful era " 
change in the system of labor which prevailed in a large 
part of the country. In all that has been said in this 
work of the development of industry and of labor prior 
to the Civil War, no mention has been made of the two 
conflicting systems of labor which existed. Mechanical 
industry has flourished so far only under the condition of 
free labor. The development of certain agricultural in- 
dustries, notably those of cotton and tobacco, was car- 
ried on under slave labor. 

It is not thoroughly essential that the exact date of T . . 

J t t Introduction of 

the introduction of slave labor into this country should slav e labor, 
be stated. Historians disagree as to the year, although 
they agree quite fully as to the month, but from all that 
can be learned it was in August of 161 8, 161 9, or 1620. 
Stith's " History of Virginia" fixes the date in 1618. 
Certain it is that some time during the three years be- 
tween 161 8 and 1620 slaves were brought to this country 
and were sold in the colony of Virginia, and slavery ex- 
isted in some parts of the United States until the emanci- 
pation proclamation of President Lincoln, January 1, 
1863. Nearly all of the colonies utilized slave labor, 
some of them, however, having but few slaves, while the utilized by 

. r . . ' . T nearly all of the 

system took firm root in the southern colonies. It was colonies. 

143 



144 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Mechanical and 

agricultural 

labor. 



but natural, therefore, that mechanical industry should 
receive greater attention where free labor predominated, 
and that agriculture should receive the greatest attention 
in those parts of the colonies where slave labor was most 
in vogue. So in any account of the development or 
evolution of the industries of our country up to the time 
of the Civil War the chief interest centers in those parts 
of the country where free labor prevailed. 

Most of the Northern States abolished slavery long be- 





A Virginia Tobacco Field. 



Abolition of 
slavery in 
Northern 
States. 



fore the Civil War, but it never played any great part as 
an obstacle or in any direction in the development of 
mechanical industry, although it has played a most im- 
portant part in retarding such development in the South. 
A distinguished southern financier has treated the re- 
tarding influences of slavery from an industrial point of 



The Civil War ; An Industrial Revolution. 145 



view with great candor, with perfect knowledge of con- 
ditions, and keen insight into the influences which led the 
South to keep her labor employed in certain restricted 
lines. * According to this writer the destiny of the Uneconomic 

& J conditions of 

South was ruled by forces over which her own people slave labor - 
had little or no control. Many events occurred outside 
of her own territory which affected her industrial history. 
The inventions of Hargreaves, Arkwright, and Cromp- 
ton, in England, the application of the steam-engine to 
the manufacture of cotton goods, and the invention of 
the cotton-gin by Eli Whitney, all contributed to con- 
centrate the attention of the South upon cotton-raising. 
The cotton-gin made cotton-planting exceedingly profit- 

* . • 1 j i_ , Influence of the 

able, and its rapid extension was stimulated by the cotton-gin. 
English machinery, while the mobility of slave labor 
added largely to the inducement for its use. The best 
soils could be taken up rapidly, because labor could be 
transported from place to place with little difficulty. 
The introduction of railroads aided in securing this 
mobility, and this resulted, as Mr. Trenholm remarks, 
in the population of the original slave states being pri- slave labor, 
marily distributed over an area much too extended for 
advantageous occupation by so small a number of people. 

Invention, science, and the arts had literally put a new face 
upon the earth ; the division of labor had augmented the pro- 
ducing capacity of the masses, and multiplied their employ- 
ments and needs, stimulating trade and diffusing intelligence. 
The gold of California and Australia, together with the im- 
provements in navigation and inland transportation, produced 
universal activity in commerce and trade. The whirl and rush 
of this progress encompassed the South on every side ; she 
came into contact with it at every point of her extended inter- 
ests and on every line of her development ; she felt its in- 

* " The Southern States : Their Social and Industrial History, Condition, and 
Needs," a paper read before the Social Science Association at Saratoga, N. 
Y., September 6, 1877, by Hon. W. L. Trenholm, of South Carolina. 



146 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Immigration 
passed the 
South. 



Capitalization 
of labor. 



Immigrants 
unable to com- 
pete with slave 
labor. 



fluence upon her industries, and tasted its fruits in her expand- 
ing wealth. Yet alone in all the world she stood unmoved by 
it; in government, in society, in employments, in labor, the 
states of the South, in i860, were substantially what they had 
been in 1810, when the abolition of the slave trade had im- 
pressed upon their development the last modification of form 
of which it seemed susceptible. Not only had the South re- 
mained unchanged during all this time, but the flood of immi- 
gration which poured over all the rest of the country had passed 
her by. Millions of men and women from every country of 
Europe passed along the whole extent of her northern border, 
bringing with them the industrial secrets of every quarter of the 
globe, and carrying their skill and thrift to the uttermost wilds 
of the West ; they passed within sight almost of the fertile soil, 
untenanted lands, and untouched resources of the South, where, 
besides, the roads, bridges, and railroads were already built, 
cities and towns already established, churches and schools al- 
ready existing ; but they would not come in. The conservatism 
and isolation of the South are the more remarkable because 
the century was so full of enriching progress, and because the 
American people have ever taken the lead in exploring new 
ideas and trying new methods. * 

The result of all these things was the capitalization of 
labor in the form of slavery, a capital which possessed 
the power of labor and the ease of transition belonging 
to capital itself. It is not strange that immigration 
passed by the South. It moved along east and west 
lines and developed the Great Northwest and the West 
generally ; but the causes were largely industrial. It is 
probable that immigrants, could they have competed 
with the mobility of slave labor, would readily have 
sought the richer states of the South rather than many 
of the unattractive regions of the West. The immigrant 
could not compete with the current cost of labor, nor 
could he gain possession of the rich soils of the South, 
because if he had attempted it he would have found them 



* See " The Southern States," by Mr. Trenholm, already quoted. 



The Civil War; An Indiisti'ial Revolution. 147 



occupied. Then, again, the raising of cotton required 
considerable capital, as well as cheap and mobile labor, ^ffeiaW 
and in this the immigrant found himself largely at a dis- 
advantage. Free labor in itself was too expensive for 
both laborer and employer ; so many of the whites of the 
South left that part of the country and sought other 
regions. The census of the United States discloses the 
facts in this latter respect, for it is found that in i860 
there were 277,000 white persons who had been born 
in South Carolina still living there, while 193,000 born 
in that state had found homes in other parts of the 
country. North Carolina retained 634,000 of her native- 
born population and 272,000 had left the home state. 
Virginia showed like conditions, there being 1,000,000 
of her native-born whites at home and 400,000 had been 
separated from the state. 

These facts relating to the loss of native population Loss of native 
show of themselves the disinclination of white labor to 
compete with slave labor ; yet it is undoubtedly true that 
the chief cause preventing the introduction of the me- 
chanical industries in the South is to be found in the 
great expansion of territory resulting from the desire to 
increase the cotton and tobacco crops. Manufactures 
result in concentration of population : agriculture in ex- 
pansion. The two interests, therefore, were diverse in 
the elements that relate to population alone. The 
southern planter, grown up under the conditions which 
surrounded him, felt the necessity of having large plan- 
tations. His dignity, his happiness depended upon it. 
His wealth was not so much a matter of importance, so 
long as he could carry on his plantation, as that inborn 
sentiment which leads a man to adopt certain methods Differing con . 
of living. The manufacturer of the North was an en- and°south° nh 
tirely different type ; concentration, the handling of de- 



148 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Antagonism of 
systems. 



tails, and the adjustment of the elements of mechanical 
industry were natural to him. Here, then, were two 
types of men and two systems of labor that could not be 
assimilated so long as the types of labor existed sepa- 
rately. The individual types of proprietors alone would 
not have resulted in antagonism, but together with the 
different types of labor there could be no diversified in- 




A Leaf Tobacco Sale in Virginia. 



Diversification 
of industry in 
the North. 



dustry in the South, and the manufacturers of the North 
naturally projected their works along other lines. So in 
the North industry became diversified, while in the South 
the development was always along one line. As Mr. 
Trenholm, already quoted, remarks in his valuable 
article, ' ' industry and society at the North were borne 
along in the general current of progress ; at the South 
they were fixed in immovable conservatism." 



The Civil War ; An Industrial Revolution. 149 



The southern slave laborer's consumption was repre- 
sented by perhaps forty or fifty cents per week, may be po^S^fstates 
less, while the free white laborer's consumption was rep- 
resented by four or five times that amount. The indi- 
vidual laborers, therefore, could not have been brought 
into competition by any legislation, or by any movement 
of capital, or by any movement of reform. Dr. Franklin 
wrote an essay on ' ' The Peopling of Countries, ' ' in 
which he said : " It is an ill-grounded opinion that by 
the labour of slaves, America may possibly vie in cheap- Dr. Franklin on 

J , J expense of 

ness of manufactures with Great Britain. The labour of slave labor - 
slaves can never be so cheap here as the labour of the 
workingmen in Great Britain. Any one may compute 
it. Reckon, then, the interest of the first purchase of a 
slave, the insurance or risk on his life, his clothing and 
diet, expenses in his sickness and loss of time, loss by 
neglect of business (neglect which is natural to the man 
who is not to be benefited by his own care or diligence), 
expense of a driver to keep him at work, and his pilfer- 
ing from time to time (almost every slave being, from 
the nature of slavery, a thief), and compare the whole 
amount with the wages of a manufacturer of iron or wool, 
in England ; you will see that labour is much cheaper 
there than it ever can be by negroes here." Very 
many observers, from Franklin's time on, marked the 
indifference and extreme slowness of the movements of 
slaves and made calculations of the cost of slave labor as 
compared with that of free labor. Mr. Cooper, a former 
president of the College of South Carolina, computed cooper of South 
that a negro, all hazards included and all earnings de- cost of slave 
ducted, would cost, at the age of twenty-one, to the 
person who raised him, at the very least, $500.* An in- 



* Cf. "Wages, or the Whip ; an Essay on the Comparative Cost and Pro- 
ductiveness of Free and Slave Labour," by Josiah Conder. London, 1833. 



150 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 




The planter's 
disadvantage. 



compete with it, the capitalist himself— the planter — was 
at a disadvantage on account of his great outlay for the 
labor which he employed. 



The Civil War ; An Industrial Revolution. 151 



Mr. Daniel R. Goodloe, a North Carolinian, who has 
given great attention to the solution of the economic Mr. Daniel r. 

m Goodloe on 

problems connected with slavery and free labor, came to f °^ r of slave 
the conclusion more than fifty years ago that capital in- 
vested in slaves was wholly unproductive and had the 
effect only of appropriating the wages due to the slave. 
He illustrated this proposition in various ways. One in- 
stance was that of two farmers, one residing on the south 
bank of the Ohio River, in Kentucky, and the other on 
the north bank, in Ohio, each cultivating one hundred 
acres and employing ten laborers. All their expenses 
were the same, except as to labor. The Ohio man hired 
ten freemen and paid them wages, probably out of the 
products of his crops. The Kentuckian was obliged to 
invest $10,000 or more in the purchase of ten slaves in 
addition to all other investments ; yet the two farms 
yielded equal crops. The Kentuckian received more 
money than the Ohio man, but Kentucky was made no 
richer by that fact than Ohio was by the distribution of the 
profits between the farmer and his laborers. Mr. Goodloe 
has put his illustration into concrete form as follows :'* 

CAPITAL NECESSARY TO GROW COTTON WITH FREE AND WITH 
SLAVE LABOR. 

Free labor. Slave labor. 

100 acres of land, at $20 per acre $2,000 $2,000 Cost of free 

Value of cattle, horses and farming tools . . 2,000 2,000 contrasted 

Food and clothing of farmer, food of free la- 
borers, and provender for horses, cattle, 

etc 1,000 

Food and clothing for farmer and his slaves, 
doctors' bills for latter, and provender for 
horses, cattle, etc 1,000 

Value of ten slaves, at $1,500 each 15,000 

Fund for paying wages to free laborers . . . 1,000 

Total investments $6,000 $20,000 

*Cf. "Resources and Industrial Condition of the South," by Mr. Goodloe, 
in Report of the United States Commissioner of Agriculture for the year 1865. 
The author is also indebted to Mr. Goodloe personally for furnishing this illus- 
tration. 



152 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Diversified 

industry 

impossible. 



The Civil War 
a great labor 
movement. 



Resources of 
the South. 



These two things, which appear paradoxical — the 
cheapness and the cost of labor — of themselves, pre- 
vented the introduction of manufactures in the South. 
Taken in connection with the other features referred to, 
diversified industry there was an impossibility. 

The Civil War found these conditions; with it they 
all passed away. While the war was organized for po- 
litical purposes, for the establishment of a new govern- 
ment, it was in reality a great labor movement — not so 
intended, but so in result ; for divested of all political 
significance, divested even of the conditions under which 
it was carried on, so far as labor was concerned, it was a 
war of economic forces, with good or ill results to the 
industrial elements of the nation and particularly the 
South, for the South had existed under a form of labor 
entirely antagonistic to that existing at the North and in 
all other lands where material progress had marked the 
growth of the people. The South had been waiting, as 
had the late Count Chambord of France, for the world 
to turn backward, and to bring with such turning the 
wealth which comes from the development of natural re- 
sources. These resources the South possessed in great 
abundance. She had rich deposits of iron and other 
ores, and the coal to work the ores ; she had timber, 
pasture, and arable lands without stint, with water- 
powers that might induce mechanics from all lands to 
settle there ; she had a climate to lure the dwellers from 
inclement zones; she had scenery as varied and as beauti- 
ful as can be found in any of the states ; and yet, with 
all these great natural advantages, immigration would not 
put itself into competition with slave labor. But the war 
came, the system of labor was changed entirely, and the 
South as a result has come into industrial competition 
with the North and with Europe. 



The Civil War ; An Industrial Revolution. 153 



The Civil War was an industrial revolution in another 
sense. The North held the mechanical industries of the 
country, and naturally, under the stimulus of the war, 
these industries could be expanded to almost any extent, 
and they were so expanded, giving* to the North every 
resource of power which mechanics give to great armies. 
The agricultural South could not compete with the me- 
chanical North. The war, in changing the form of labor 




Mechanical 
resources of the 
North. 



Drying Room in a Southern Tobacco Factory. 

of the South, forced upon it the adoption of the system 
existing elsewhere, and therefrom dates the mechanical 
development of the Southern States. Prior to the war 
there was little expansion except over areas. The re- 
sources of the South were not appreciated, nor were 
they prospected to any great extent ; but with the close 
of the war attention was turned to the elements which 
are essential to industrial development. Before the 
emancipation of slavery very many prominent business 



Mechanical de- 
velopment of 
the South after 
the war. 



1 54 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Climatic 
influences no 
obstacle. 



Industrial 
progress. 



men had taken the ground that climatic influences would 
prevent the extension of the factory system in the south- 
ern portion of the United States, and even within a very 
few years public men have insisted that the factory, 
workshop, and extensive works using machinery could 
not be carried on profitably in the Southern States ; and 
yet, with the development since the war, there has come 
an extensive factory system there, and to such a degree 



as to show clearly that no climatic influence can stay its 
further development. 

The statistics of the growth of the South disprove the 
old views and confirm the wisdom of the men who have 
put their energy and their capital into southern enter- 
prises. The South soon found that besides the capacity 
to raise cotton and tobacco for domestic and foreign con- 
sumption, crops which constituted her chief source of 
wealth, another great source was hidden beneath the 
surface, consisting in the mineral deposits of the country. 




The Civil War; A?i Industrial Revolution. 155 



This wealth is vast, indeed, and the statements relative 

to it show the basis of the whole southern development 

since the war.* The Southern Appalachian region, 

while it does not cover all the iron and coal resources of 

the Southern States, probably contains the great bulk of 

minerals of the very best quality. It embraces a strip of iron and coal 

. ^ m 1 resources. 

elevated mountainous country seven hundred miles long, 
with an average width of one hundred and fifty miles, 
and extends from the Pennsylvania line, the great iron 
region of the North, southwestwardly through Maryland, 
the Virginias, Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas, and 
into Alabama and Georgia. It is an unbroken coal-field 
of more than thirty-nine thousand square miles, its sur- 
face being a combination of mountain and plateau. The 
vastness of this coal area of the Southern Appalachian 
field is more readily comprehended when brought into 
comparison with the coal areas of other countries. It is 
estimated that it contains forty times the amount of coal, 
accessible to economical production and distribution, 
that was contained in the coal-field of Great Britain be- 
fore a pick was struck. Great Britain has not begun to 
exhaust her supply, even now, and with the Southern 
Appalachian field, containing forty times the wealth of 
Great Britain, the South may well feel that she has 
another natural source of wealth — her mineral deposits 
— that is inexhaustible and that makes her a power in 
the industrial world. 

The fear that came after the war that what the southern 
people considered their great and natural staple, cotton, 
would not be raised in as great quantities as under the 
system of slave labor, has been entirely removed by the Cotton crops 
development of that particular industry. The largest 



* The author is indebted to statements made by Col. Geo. B. Cowlam, of 
Knoxville, Tenn., and by Major Goldsmith B. West, of Tredegar, Ala. 



156 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Cotton crop 
prior to the 



cotton crop in the Southern States prior to the war was in 
the year before it commenced, i860, when 4,669,770 
bales were produced. This quantity was not reached 
again until 1871, when it was 4,352,317 bales ; but as 




Cotton Day" at Marietta, Georgia. 



Cotton crop in 
1894. 



Consumption 
of cotton. 



early as 1876 the product equaled the proportions of that 
of i860, and since 1876 there has been no year when the 
crop has not been greater than at any time prior to the 
war, while in 1894 the production reached the vast 
amount of 9,500,000 bales. 

While formerly the South exported nearly all of her 
cotton crop, she is now consuming a very large percent- 
age of it, 700,000 bales having been consumed last year 
in southern cotton-mills. But these statements belong 
now to the development of the whole country since i860. 



The Civil War ; An Industrial Revolution. 157 



They are brought out here simply as specific illustrations 
of the truth of the statement that the Civil War was a 
great industrial revolution, not only in light of the fact 
that it changed the labor system of the South, but that 
it changed the economic conditions of the South as well 
relative to her material prosperity. When the industrial 
status of millions of people is changed to a directly oppo- 
site system, whatever action brings about the change 
must be considered an industrial revolution, and while it 
is clearly true, in the light of all the history we now have, 
that the ultimate effects of slavery were harmful to the 




Shipping Cotton, Charleston, South Carolina. 



best interests of the country, the immediate influence i ts immediate 

was in an economic way advantageous. Slavery enabled economic*" 1 

the clear-headed and vigorous early settlers to hasten the advanta s e * 
work of subjugating the wilderness of eastern North 



Slavery harm- 
ful to industrial 
interests. 



158 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Evolution of 
industry 
required a 
change. 



America in a measure which would have been impossible 
if there had been no such servile labor at their com- 
mand.* Whatever service it had to perform in such 
directions, however, had been completed, and the evolu- 
tion of industry in the United States required a change, 
and such change being effected by the Civil War, makes 
it the appropriate subject of a chapter on the industrial 
history of the country. 



* "The United States of America," edited by N. S. Shaler. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIES, 1860-1890. 



The growth of the manufacturing industries of the 
United States since i860 has been so extensive and 
varied that it is difficult to select the industry or group 
of industries that forms the most striking feature of the 
period. The United States Census of i860 reported 
the capital invested in mechanical and manufacturing 
industries as $1,009,855,715 and the product as $1,885,- 
861,676. The establishments were scattered through- 
out thirty-nine states and territories, but the center of 
industry was in the New England and Middle States, 
these states contributing sixty-seven per cent of the 
total product. New industries have been constantly ap- 
pearing, while well-established household or neighbor- 
hood industries have been rapidly developing and pass- 
ing under the factory system. 

The enumeration of industrial statistics has been con- 
fined to those in- 
dustries that 
were conducted 
by distinct estab- 
lishments. For 
instance, the 
making of bread 
is reported as an 
industry ; the total, however, includes only the manu- 
facture of bread as conducted in bakeries, and not the 

159 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



•N MILLIONS. 



CAPITA! 
PRODUCT 



1000 1000 300ft 4000 &000 0000 T»» tOlt »000 



Census of i860. 



Capital and 
product. 



Total value of 
products. 



160 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Per capita 
value of 
products. 



making of bread in private families, nor is cognizance 
taken of any establishment whose yearly product does 
not amount to $500. The total, therefore, should not 
be considered as an exact statement of the output for 
all industries. Considering new enterprises and indus- 
tries that have passed frorn the household to the factory 
system as legitimate elements of increase, the total cap- 
ital invested in mechanical and manufacturing industries 
advanced to $6,525,156,486 and the value of products 
to $9>37 2 >437> 2 83 in 1890, an increase of 546 per cent 
in capital and of 397 per cent in product. 3 

The per capita value of products for 1890 amounted 
to $149. If to the manufacturing we add the products 
of mining, amounting to $587,230,662, agricultural 




OHIO ,g s 



6 €<tl<*s'Jb,j 5 



W. VA, 



A 



Center of Manufacturing, 1850-1890. 



improvement products valued at $2,460, 107,454, and fishery products 
ma P nXct S u e re 0f amounting to $44,277,514, we have a grand aggregate 
of $12,464,052,913, or $198 per capita. The applica- 
tion of science and invention to manufacturing processes 
has extended to all classes of industry, stimulating the 



The Development of Industries, 1860-1890. 161 



production and resulting 
cheaper product. New 
lished in regions remote 



in a more highly finished and 
enterprises have been estab- 
from the established centers of 



a more equal distribution of Distribution 

. and center of 

Following upon the rapid advance in the production. 



industry in i860, causing 
the product 

population of the Western States, large and diversified 
manufacturing enterprises have been established, and the 
center of the manufacturing industries of the country 
has moved slowly toward the west. In 1890 the center 
was about eight and one half miles south of Canton, 
Ohio, while in 1850 it was near Mifflintown, Pa. 

The principal industries in i860 were the textiles, cloth- 
ing, lumber, iron and steel, leather, boots and shoes, flour 
and meal, sugar, paper, printing and publishing, carriages 
and wagons, foundry and machine-shop products, and 
liquors, distilled and malt ; the product for these indus- 
tries forming over sixty per cent of the total product for 
all industries. The increase in the principal industries 
has been in keeping with the increase in all industries. 
The total capital in- 
vested in the several 
branches of the tex- 
tile manufacture, for 
instance, increased 
from $150,080,852 
in i860 to $739,- 
973,661 in 1890, or 
393 per cent, while 
the value of product increased from $214,740,614 to 
$721,949,262, or 236 per cent. The textile industries 
are concentrated largely in the New England and 
Middle States, those states producing 89.37 P er cen t 
of the total value of textile products during 1890, the 
New England States alone contributing 50.64 per cent 



TEXTILES. 

IN MILLIONS. 


CAPITAL 

'860 PB0OueT 

ieao wma 

'° 9V PRODUCT 


100 too SO* 400 &00 MO TOO 































Principal 
industries. 



Textiles. 



t6i2 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Importance of 
textile manu- 
facture. 



Cotton. 



Concentration 
of cotton manu- 
facture. 



and the Middle States 38.73 per cent. Massachu- 
setts is the leading textile manufacturing state of the 
Union, and produced 25.62 per cent of the entire 
product of the country for 1890. The importance of 
the textiles in the value and quantity of product, as well 
as the variety and importance of the uses to which the 
product is put, excels that of any other single industry 
in the United States. 

Of the different branches of the industry cotton 
stands first. There were 1,091 establishments en- 
gaged in the manufacture of cotton in i860, with an 
average product of $106,033 and an average of 4,799 
spindles per establishment. In 1890 there were 905 
establishments, with an average product of $296,112 
and an average of 15,677 spindles, an increase of 179 
per cent in the product and of 227 per cent in the 
number of spindles per establishment. During the 

same period the ag- 



COTTON. 

IN MILLIONS. 




SO 100 1 


100 250 SCO UO 


I860 CRP ' TAt 

PRODUCT 
















1890 CftP ' TAL 

PRODUCT 

































gregate capital in- 
vested in the industry 
increased from $98,- 
585, 269 to $354, 020,- 
843, or 259 per cent, 
and the value of prod- 
uct from $115,681,- 
774 to $267,981,724, or 132 per cent. The decrease in 
the number of establishments and increase in the value of 
product, as well as the increase in the size of the average 
establishment, indicate the extent to which the industry 
has been concentrated in fewer and larger establishments. 
While phenomenal increases appear for all branches of 
the textile industry since i860, the concentration is not 
so marked in the other branches as it is in the cotton 
manufacture. 



The Development of Industries ; i86o-i8go. 163 



The capital invested in the different branches of 
wool manufacture increased from $38,814,422 to $245,- Woolens. 
886,743, or 533 per cent, and the product from $73,- 
454,000 to $270,527,511, or 268 per cent, and the num- 
ber of looms and spindles from 16,075 an d 639,700 
to 69,658 and 2,793,147, respectively. The average 
value of product per establishment in i860 was $49,- 
766, and in 1890 $159,792. During the same period 




Hand-Loom now in Use in North Carolina. 

there was an increase ot 217 in the number of estab- 
lishments and of thirty looms and 1,217 spindles per es- 
tablishment. The application of inventions to textile onnv^ions!' 
machinery, especially to that employed in the wool manu- 
facture, has lesulted in a greater variety of the more 
highly finished products, and has so increased the pro- 
ductive capacity of the establishments and caused a 
resulting decrease in values that the quantity rather than 
the value of product should be used in ascertaining the 



164 Inditstrial Evolution of the United States. 



percentage of increase. Unfortunately, the constant 
variations which occur in the characteristics of the fin- 
ished product destroy any 
general standard of quan- 
tity for comparison. 

The manufacture of car- 
pets is one of the most 
characteristic branches 
of the textile industry in 
the United States, and 
one in which great advances have been made since 
i860. There were two hundred and thirteen estab- 
lishments engaged in the manufacture of carpets in i860, 
with a capital of $4,721,768 and a product valued at 
$7,857,636. * n l8 9° the number of establishments had 
decreased to one hundred and seventy-three, while the 
capital increased to $38,208,842 and the product to 
$47,770,193. The total number of running yards of 
carpet increased from 39,282,633 in 1880 to 74,770,910 
in 1890, or ninety 
per cent. The 
industry is largely 
concentrated in 
Philadelphia, 
where one hun- 
dred and thirty- 
three mills are located, the product for the city being 
forty-six per cent of the total output for the entire country. 

While the silk manufacture is one of the oldest in- 
dustries in the United States, the total capital invested in 
i860 amounted to only $2,926,980 and the value of 
products to $6,607,771, being about thirteen per cent of 
the entire consumption for that year. In 1890 the home 
factories produced fifty-five per cent of the total con- 



WOOL. 

'in millions. 


> Q 60 PRODUCT 

CAPITAL 
1890 P10DUCT 


50 100 1! 


»0 2C 


2. 


w 





































CARPETS. 

IN MILLIONS. 


CAPITAL 
1660 PAOOUCT 

1890 CBP,TAt 

PRODUCT 


1 


1 IO 1 


S i 


O 1 


s I 


£9 +0 40 



























































The Development of Industries, i86o-\8go. 165 



sumption, the product being valued at $87,298,454, 
while the capital invested in the industry had increased 
to $51,007,537. The foundation of silk manufacture in 
the United States lay in the making of sewing silk. The 
adaptation of silk thread or twist for use on the sewing 
machine occurred 



and 



I860. 



in 1S52 
created a new 
classification of 
"machine twist," 
and gave impetus 
to this branch of 
the industry, un- 
til the production of sewing 
amounted to 1,119,825 pounds 



SI LK. 

ikCmillions. 



.20 SO 40 80 60 70 80 



Foundation of 
silk manufac- 
ture. 



silk and machine twist 
in 1890. The constant Effect of 
changes in fashions have caused frequent alterations and feSSonf m 
improvements in the machinery used in silk manufac- 




A Family Teasing Wool. 



1 66 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Classes of 
product in i? 



Dyeing and 
finishing. 



ture ; this has resulted in great improvement and in- 
creased beauty and variety of design in the finished 
product. The principal classes of product in 1890 were 
"ribbons," valued at $17,081,447, and " dress goods, 
figured and plain," valued at $15,183,134; the classi- 
fication of the product of the mills, however, is practi- 
cally without limit. The recognized seats of the industry 
in i860 were in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, 
and Pennsylvania. The manufacture has spread and 
large establishments are now located in fifteen states 
and territories. In i860 the product for New Jersey 
was valued at $969,700 ; in 1890 it had increased to 
$30,760,371. 

Another branch of the textile industry worthy of con- 
sideration is the dyeing and finishing, as done by es- 
tablishments especially equipped and engaged exclu- 
sively in this industry. In i860 there were one hundred 

and twenty-four es- 
tablishments engaged 
in dyeing and finish- 
ing, with a capital of 
$5,718,671 and a 
product of $11,716,- 
463. In 1890 the 
capital had advanced 
to $38,450,800 and the value of products to $28,900,- 
560. While the industry has increased rapidly and still 
retains its importance as a distinct, integral part of the 
textile manufacture, the textile mills have engaged ex- 
tensively in the dyeing and finishing of their own prod- 
ucts, chemicals and dye-stuffs to the value of $11,278,970 
being used for this purpose by the mills during the year 
1890. 

The revolution in the tailoring industry that followed 



DYEING & FINISHING. 

IN. MILLIONS. 


' 860 PR0OUCT 
q 9 CAPITAL 
PBOOUCT 


S 10 IS 20 2 


S 30 35 









































The Development of Industries, 1860-1890. 167 



upon the invention of the sewing machine, resulting in 
the combination of the small shops and the organization Tailorin s« 
of large establishments for the manufacture of wearing 
apparel, for sale ready-made, was practically complete 
by i860. Unfortunately, no authoritative statistics are 
available for the manufacture as distinct from the custom 
tailoring of that date. There were 3,968 establishments 
reported in i860 as engaged in the manufacture of 
women's and men's clothing, with a capital of $26,386,- 
443 and a product of $80,758,344. The number of 
establishments had increased to 19,882 in 1890, the capi- 
tal to $203,812,466, and the value of product to $446,- 
186, '834. The rapidly increasing demand for men's and 
boys' ready-made clothing stimulated the manufacture to clothing, 
such an extent that it was recognized as a distinct indus- 
try in 1890, when 
5,067 establish- 
ments were re- 
ported, with a 
product of $251,- 
803,664. In i860 
the four cities of 



Ready-made 



TAILORING. 

IN MILLIONS 


CAPITAL 
PRODUCT 

1890 CAP,T "- 


1 


100 i&o t 


03 260 300 »90 400 


S3 





































Boston, New York, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia manu- 
factured more than one half of the men's clothing 
of the entire country. While the centers of the indus- 
try necessarily remain in the large cities, the total for the 
one hundred and sixty-five principal cities forming 
ninety-seven per cent of the total product in 1890, the 
manufacture has become greatly scattered, establish- 
ments being reported for almost every state and terri- 
tory. 

The manufacture of clothing and articles of personal 
adornment, exclusive of jewelry and foot-wear, has as- 
sumed enormous proportions, the product for such in- 



Clothing. 



1 68 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



dustries aggregating over $700,000,000 for the last cen- 
sus year. One of the most important of the specialties 
into which the industry is divided is the manufacture of 
shirts, collars and cuffs, and men's furnishings. Two 
hundred and nineteen establishments were engaged in 
the manufacture of these articles in i860, with a product 
valued at $7,218,790, which advanced to $63,509,539 in 
1890, the number of establishments being 1,455. The 
manufacture is confined almost entirely to the large cit- 
ies, the cities with a population of 20,000 and over con- 
trolling eighty-nine per cent of the output. 

The manufacture of ladies' ready-made clothing, ex- 
clusive of corsets, hoop-skirts, and knirgoods, was con- 



LADIES CLOTHING. 

(IN MILLIONS. 


CAPITAL 

•860 pRODoCT 

CAPITAL 
1890 PRODUCT 


5 IO 1 


5 10 25 3 


1 


5 40 * 


5 SO SS 60 65 




sss 






a 























































fined to ninety-six establishments in i860, with a capital 
of $473,400 and a product of $2, 261,546, the product 
being restricted almost entirely to the manufacture of 
cloaks and mantillas. The demand for ladies' ready- 
made undergarments, exclusive of the product of the 
knitting mills, has become general and has greatly in- 
creased the manufacture. There were 1,224 establish- 
ments engaged in the industry in 1890, with a capital of 
$21,259,528 and a product valued at $68, 164,019. 

The manufacture of foot-wear, next to clothing, is the 
industry that is the greatest promoter of personal com- 
fort and is among the manufactures that were firmly es- 
tablished in i860, there being a larger number of persons 



The Development of Industries, i86o-i8go. 169 




Shoemaker at the Bench. 



engaged in it at that time than in any other industry importance of 
save that of agriculture, the operatives forming more SdustrJ. 
than one twelfth of those employed in all classes of manu- 
facture. There were 12,487 establishments reported 



FOOT WEAR. 

IN MILLION! 


I860 CM " TAL 

,0OW PRODUCT 


AO 8 


O 120 160 200 Z' 


280 
















1890 CAP ' TBL 
PHOOUCT 



















in i860, with a capital of $23,358,527 and a product of Number of 
$91,891,498. These figures, however, include the estabhshme 
operations of the small custom shops. Data for the 



170 Indiistrial Evolution of the United States. 



Value of 
product. 



Specialized 
features. 



factory industry in the entire country were collected in 

1880, when 1,959 
factories were re- 
ported, with a capi- 
tal of $42,994,028 
and a product of 
$166,050,354, the 
total number of 
boots and shoes of 
all classes manu- 
factured during the 
year amounting to 
125,478,511 pairs. 

The industry has 
now become greatly 
specialized, separate 
factories being en- 
gaged exclusively in 
the manufacture of 
boot and shoe cut 
stock and uppers, 
also in the making 
of stiffenings, heels, 
insoles, linings, tips, 
clasps, strings, 
staples, and various 
other articles com- 
ing under the class- 
ification of "boot 
f and shoe findings." 
All branches of the 
industry, including 
the small custom 
The Champion" Pegger. shops, aggregated 




The Development of Industries, i86o-i8go. 171 



23,684 establishments in 1890, with a capital of $117,- 
923,375 and a product of $280,215,185. The factory- 
industry proper was represented by 2,082 establishments, 
with a capital of $95, 282,31 1 and a product valued at 
$220,649,358, being an increase of thirty-three per cent 
in the value of product during the ten years from 1880 
to 1890. The total number of boots and shoes made 
in 1 890 was reported as 179,409,388 pairs, an increase of 
forty-three per cent over 1880. The oldest seat of the oldest seat of 

• * 1 11 i - shoe industry. 

industry is in Massachusetts, and the greatest production 
remains in that state, the product being fifty-three per 
cent of the total for the country in 1890. 

Among the industries that contribute to the personal 
wants, the manufacture of food products ranks next in Food products, 
importance to the textiles and the making of clothing. 
According to the United States Census of i860, there 
were 16,956 establishments, with a capital of $104,927,- 
586 and a yearly product valued at $323,023,598, en- 
gaged in the manu- 
facture of various 
forms of food prod- 
ucts. The manu- 
facture of butter 
was not reported 
as an industry dis- 
tinct from the farm product, nor did slaughtering and 
meat-packing appear except as the product of the retail 
butcher. The manufacture of canned goods, in which 

Canned goods. 

1,328 establishments, with a capital of $24,522,581 and 
a product of $49,886,305, were reported in 1890, did 
not appear as a distinct industry in i860, and the 
product of that year was exceedingly limited, it being 
almost entirely a household industry. 

The different varieties of food products are now prac- 



FOOD PRODUCTS. 

IN MILLIONS. 


I860 C * P,T * L 

PROOUCT 
CAPITAL 
1890 PRODUCT 


200 400 eoo too 1000 IZOO UOO 1600 











































172 Industrial Evolution of the U?iited States. 



tically unlimited, new forms of tasty preparations con- 
stantly appearing in the market. The growing demand 
for such articles has increased the production, and the 
grand aggregate for 1890 was 41,608 establishments, 
with a capital of $524,669,429 and a product of $1,647,- 
477, 291. The annual product for each of the four principal 
branches of the industry, viz. : bread, crackers, and 
other bakery products ; flouring and grist-mill products ; 
slaughtering and meat-packing ; and sugar and molasses 
refining, exceeds $100,000,000. 

The manufacture of bread, crackers, and other forms 
of bakery products, as conducted by distinct establish- 
ments, conveys no definite idea of the magnitude of the 
industry. The total product reported for 1 860 amounted 
to $16,980,012, and for 1890 to $128,421,535 ; both of 
these amounts, however, fall far below the true value of 
the product, since the industry exists not only in every 
state and territory, but in every city and town of any 
importance. 

The increase in the production of flour, meal, and 
other products of the grist-mills in the United States has 
been in keeping with the increase in population and agri- 



FLOUR, MEAL&c. 

IN MILLIONS. 


i860 CAPITAL 

00 PRODUCT 
. CAPITAL 

890 

PRODUCT 




30 200 300 400 500 


M 























culture. The capital invested in the industry in i860 
amounted to $84,585,004 and the product to $248,580,- 
365. In 1890 the capital was $208,473,500 and the 
product $513,971,474, being an increase of 146 per 
cent in capital and 107 per cent in the value of product. 



The Development of Industries, 1860-1890. 173 



While the number of mills in operation in 1890 shows 
an increase over i860 of 4,602, the tendency during re- Flour-mills, 
cent years has been to centralize the manufacture in 
fewer and larger establishments. The number of mills 
decreased from 24,338 in 1880 to 18,470 in 1890, while 
the average product per establishment increased from 
$20,757 to $27,827, and the daily capacity from 194 to 
298 bushels. As these figures include all the small cus- 
tom mills, they convey no idea of the size of the average 
merchant flour- mill. A number of the large mills are 
congregated at Minneapolis, Minn., the yearly output 
for the city in 1890 being valued at $30,707,998. The 
average capital invested by each establishment was 
$431,490 and the average product $1,228,320. Owing 
to the decrease in the value of flour and meal and the 
large increase in the daily capacity of the mills, which 
has advanced from 4,730,106 bushels in 1880 to 5,495,- 
562 bushels in 1890, the increase of 107 per cent given 
above as the increase in value of product does not con- 
vey a correct idea of the actual increase during the thirty 
years. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIES, 1860-189O 

( Concluded'). 

Authentic data concerning meat-packing and slaugh- 
Meat-packmg ter i n g were fi rst gathered at the census of 1870, the first 
slaughtering. appearance of the industry, as conducted by distinct 
establishments producing for the trade, being in the dec- 
ade of years from i860 to 1870. In 1870 there were 259 
establishments reported, with a capital of $22,124,787 
and a product of $62,140,439. The number of establish- 



MEAT PACKING & SLAUGHTERING-. 

IN MILLIONS. 


1870 CAP ' TAL 

v v PRODUCT 

1890 " PITnL 

PRODUCT 


100 200 300 400 SOO 


SI 


9 























ments had increased to 1,118 in 1890, the capital to 
$116,887,504, and the product to $561,611,668. The 
principal seats of the industry are in Chicago, 111. , and 
Kansas City, Kan., the product for the two cities form- 
ing forty-three per cent of the product for the United 
States. 

As previously stated, the manufacture of butter did 
not appear as a distinct industry from the agricultural 
products prior to 1 860. The manufacture of cheese as a 
distinct industry appears also to have been insignificant 

174 



\ 



The Development of Industries, i86o-i8go. 175 



during 1S60. The total quantity of cheese and butter 
made as a dairy product during that year was 103,663,- 
927 and 459,681,372 pounds, respectively. The manu- 
facture of cheese in factories increased rapidly during 
the ten years from i860 to 1870, as in the latter year 
1,313 cheese factories were reported, with an annual 
product valued at $16,771,665, and producing 109,435,- 
229 pounds of cheese ; there were other products of the 
factories, in which there was considerable butter, all 
valued at $16,096. There were 4,552 factories reported 
as engaged in the manufacture of cheese, butter, and 
condensed milk in 1890, with a product valued at $60,- Butter and 

. cheese now fac- 

635,705- The total quantity of cheese was reported as tory products. 
238,035,065 pounds and of butter 181,284,916 pounds. 
Combining these totals with the dairy or farm product 
gives a grand aggregate of 256,761,883 pounds of cheese 
and 1,205,508,384 pounds of butter made in the United 
States during 1890. The manufacture of condensed 
milk is a branch of the industry that has developed al- 
most entirely since i860, the product for that year 
amounting to less than $50,000. The product is now 
of an entirely different character from that prevailing in 
i860, and is sold in various forms. The manufacture 
prevails in the states of Illinois, Massachusetts, Michi- 
gan, and New York, the total production for 1890 being 
37,926,821 pounds, valued at $3,586,927. 

The manufacture of oleomargarine and butterine ap- 
pears first during the decade of years from 1870 to 1880, oleomargarine, 
following upon the establishment of the slaughtering 
and meat-packing as a distinct industry, the materials 
used in the manufacture of oleomargarine being obtained 
largely from the slaughtering houses. The industry has 
flourished and the total production for 1894 amounted 
1069,622,246 pounds. The total production from No- 



176 Industrial Evolution of the U?iited States. 



Iron and steel 
industry. 



vember 1, 1886, to June 30, 1894, aggregated 353,611,- 
320 pounds. 

In no class of industry in which the raw material is 
of the same substance has there been such a growth, 
specialization, and improvement in the form, character, 
and diversity of the finished products during the past 
thirty years as in the iron and steel industry. The ma- 
nipulation of the crude and finished forms of the products 




Spinning Room in a Southern Cotton Factory. 



Number of 

establishments 

engaged. 



of the blast furnace, rolling-mill, steel works, and forge 
is unlimited, ranging from the heaviest structural iron 
and ordnance to the finest surgical instrument. 

The manufacture of iron and steel was among the 
industries of first magnitude in i860, there being 652 
establishments, according to the United States census, 
engaged in the manufacture of pig and blooms and rolled 



The Development of Industries, 1860-1890. 177 



iron and steel during that year. Since i860 the rapidly 
increasing demand for all forms of iron and steel has 
greatly accelerated the manufacture, the capital increas- 
ing from $48,372,897 to $414,044,844 in 1890, and the 
value of products from $57,160,243 to $478,687,519. 
The tendency of the industry has been to concentrate Tendency to 
special branches in larger and better equipped plants, 
where the latest improvements in machinery can be 
readily adopted, and where the furnace and mill practice 
can be brought to the highest perfection. The increase 
in the size of the establishments appears from the fact 
that in 1870 the average product per establishment was 
$256, 446 and had 



IRON 8c STEEL. 

IN MILLIONS. 


CAPITAL 
PRODUCT 

1890 C "" ,T " 1 

PRODUCT 


1 


tOO 300 400 























increased to 
$665, 768 in 1890. 
This tendency 
has stimulated 
the reduction in 
the selling price 
of the finished products and has greatly increased the 
quantity of the iron and steel manufactured. The 
value of products increased from $207,208,696 in 1870 
to $296,557,685 in 1880, or forty-three percent, while 
the quantity of products increased ninety-nine per cent. 
During the ten years from 1880 to 1890 the value of 
products increased from $296,557,685 to $478,687,519, 
or sixty-one per cent, and the tons of products increased 
one hundred and fifty-one per cent. The introduction 
of the Bessemer and the Siemens-Martin, or open-hearth, 
processes for the manufacture of steel, and the substi- 
tution of coke for coal and charcoal in the making of 
pig-iron, are the principal improvements in the process 
of manufacture. The introduction of modern processes 
for the manufacture of steel and the increased demand 



Introduction 
of new 
processes. 



178 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



for this class of product have resulted in a greater pro- 
Total produc- duction of steel than of iron. The total production of 

tion, 1860-1890. % * 

steel in i860 amounted to 1 1,838 gross tons, and in 1890 
to 5,049,693 gross tons. Notwithstanding the large in- 
crease in steel, the manufacture of iron has not declined 
except relatively, the products of the puddling furnaces 
amounting to 2,353,248 tons in 1880 and to 3,225,140 
tons in 1890, an increase of thirty-seven per cent. 

Bessemer steel was first manufactured in any consider- 
, able quantities in the United States in 1867, there being 

Bessemer steel. ^ , ° 

about 2,679 tons of ingots produced during that year. 
Open-hearth steel first appeared in 1869, when 893 tons 
of ingots were produced. So rapid has been the ad- 
vance in the steel manufacture that the production in 
1890 out-distanced that of Great Britain by 1,370,650 
tons, the product for the United States being 5,049,693 
gross tons, while that of Great Britain was 3,679,043 
Cause of gross tons. The principal cause of the development of 

development. P r r 1 

the iron manufacture has been the rapid expansion of 
our railroad system, stimulating the development of the 
steel-rail industry. In 1880 there were 33,680 miles of 
steel and 81,967 miles of iron railroad track in the 
United States. In 1890 the miles of steel rails had in- 
creased to 167,606, while the miles of iron rails had de- 
creased to 40,697, there being eighty-one per cent of 
the total mileage laid in steel rails. 

Among the other important products of this industry 
wire nails. that have appeared since i860 is the wire nail. The 
wire nail first appeared in considerable quantities in 1884. 
So constant and increasing has been the demand for this 
form of nail that the production in 1890 amounted to 
2,893,316 kegs of one hundred pounds, as compared 
with 2,139,086 kegs of iron-cut nails and 3,717,944 kegs 
of steel-cut nails, the total production of nails for the 



The Development of Industries, 1860-1890. 179 



year being 8,750,346 kegs of one hundred pounds. 

In contrast with the prosperity of the iron and steel Decline in pro- 
industries, as a whole, has been the decline in the pro- blooms and 
duction of blooms and hammered bar-iron direct from ba™iron. 
the ore. This industry had reached considerable mag- 
nitude in i860, the yearly product being about 30,000 
net tons, but in 1890 the product did not exceed 8,000 
tons. 

While various industries in which iron or steel, in 
some form, enters as the principal material have ap- 
peared for the first time during the past thirty years, it 
is probable that none have attracted more notice than 
the manufacture of typewriters and bicycles and tricy- 




The Dorrance "Breaker," near Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. 

cles. The typewriting machine, in its present form, Manufacture of 
dates from 1873, the first machine having been manu- machines^ 
factured at Ilion, New York. There were thirty fac- 
tories reported in 1890 as engaged in the manufacture of 
typewriters and typewriter supplies, with a capital of 
$1,421,783 and a yearly product valued at $3,630, 126. 



180 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Bicycles. 



Coke. 



Stimulation of 
the production 
of coke. 



Statistics of 
coke produc- 
tion. 



The manufacture of the modern form of bicycle dates 
from 1875, the first machines being manufactured at 
Hartford, Conn. The industry has become specialized, 
and data that correctly represent the manufacture in all 
its phases are not available. In 1890, however, twenty- 
seven establishments, with a capital of §2,058,072 and 
a product of $2,568,326, are reported as engaged in the 
manufacture of the machines proper, while eighty-three 
shops, with a product of $301,709, were engaged in 
repair work exclusively. 

One of the principal assistants to the rapid increase in 
the iron and steel industries has been the production ol 
coke. Exclusive of the product of gas works, the 

manufacture of 



COKE. 

IN MILLIONS. 


.860 C * P,T * 1 

PROOUCT 
CAPITAL 

1890 

PROOUCT 


2 4 6»8 10 IJ 


4 16 
































BBS 

























There 



coke in i860 
was confined 
almost entirely 
to Allegheny, 
Cambria, Clar- 
ion, and Fay- 
were twenty-one 



ette Counties, Pennsylvania 
establishments reported, with a capital of $62,300 and a 
product of $189,844. The rapid increase in the iron and 
steel industries and the consequent demand of the blast 
furnaces stimulated the production of coke, and in 1889 
there were 218 establishments, located in eighteen differ- 
ent states and territories, and reporting an aggregate 
capital of $17,462,729, with a product valued at $16,- 
498,345. The capital invested increased 266.11 per 
cent and the product 207.83 per cent during the ten 
years from 1880 to 1890 ; during the same period the 
number of ovens, pits, or mounds increased from 10,116 
to 33,906, or 235. 17 per cent. There were 2,752,475 tons 
of coke manufactured in 1880, of which the blast fur- 



The Development of Industries 1860-1890. 181 




Wilkes Barre "Breaker Boys." 

facture of pig-iron is rapidly superseding charcoal. char S coai ption ° f 
During 1890 there were only 664,711 tons of charcoal 



iS2 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Increase in the 
use of coke. 



Petroleum. 



Yearly produc- 
tion of 
petroleum. 



pig-iron produced, being but seven per cent of the total 
quantity of pig-iron manufactured during that year. 

The greater care taken in the preparation of the coal, 
the use of better ovens, and the introduction of more 
economical methods of working, have gradually in- 
creased the percentage of the yield of coal in coke, until 
in 1889 the general average for the United States was 
63.36 percent, the average for Pennsylvania being 65.03 
per cent. Pennsylvania has uniformly held first place 
in this industry, its product amounting to 73.67 per cent 
of the total production for 1SS9. 

One of the industries that have appeared and assumed 
enormous proportions since 1S60 is the production 
and refining of petroleum. The production of petro- 
leum in commercial quantities in the United States 
dates from the drilling of a veil by Mr. Drake 
(called Colonel Drake), near Titusville, Pa., in August, 
1859. In June, i860, however, the daily product 

did not exceed 200 gallons, 
daily production had reached 
Petroleum has been found in 
almost every state and territory, but the large producing 
districts, those from which it has been obtained in pay- 
ing quantities, are confined to Pennsylvania. Xew York, 
West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Colorado, and California. 
The yearly production has increased with varying in- 
tensity, the highest point being reached in 1S91, when 
it amounted to 54,291,980 barrels. The total produc- 
tion since 1S59 amounts to about 607,000,000 barrels, 
and it is estimated that the product of the United States 
constitutes fifty-seven per cent of the production of the 
world. 

Following upon the production of petroleum in large 
quantities, companies were formed for the refining of the 



of all the wells probably 
but in the fall of 186 1 the 
6,000 or 7,000 barrels. 



I 

The Development of Industries \ 1860-1890. 183 



crude product, but statistics concerning this branch of 

the industry were not collected until 1880, when eiehty- Petroleum 

J & J statistics for 

six establishments were reported, with a capital of $27,- l88 9- 
325,746 and a product valued at $43,705,218. In 1889 
the number of establishments had increased to ninety- 
four, the capital to $77,416,296, and the value of prod- 
uct to $85,001,198, there being one hundred and six 
separate refineries, located in nine different states. The 
states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, 



PETROLEUM. 

IN MILLIONS. 


00 PRODUCT 


1 


2 


3 


4 


S 


6 


7 


8 


» 




















CAPITA!. 
1890 PROOUCT 































however, produced seventy-six per cent of the total 
product for the year, the industry being practically con- 
trolled by a few large corporations. The products of 
the refineries of chief value are illuminating oils and 
naphtha ; about 17,000,000 barrels of illuminating oils 
and over 3,000,000 barrels of naphtha were refined dur- 
ing 1889. 

We have considered the contribution of some of the 
principal textile, clothing, food, and metal industries to 
the industrial development of the country. Other in- 
dustries of vital importance to material prosperity have 
taken an important part in the great increases shown ; 
ranking among the first of these are lumber and the 
manufacture of brick and tile. The product of lumber p d t f 
and planing-mills and the cutting and hewing of timber lumber and 
in i860 amounted to $108,946,393, and had increased to planin& ml11 
$621,638,934 in 1890. The three leading states in the 



1 84 Industrial Evolution of the U)iited States. 



industry in i860 were Maine, New York, and Pennsyl- 
vania. The center of the industry in 1890 was in the 



Increase in the 
production of 
lumber. 



Brick and tile- 
making. 



India rubber 
and gutta- 
percha. 





LUMBER 8cc. 




IN MILLIONS 




100 200 300 400 500 600 


I860 






1 
1 



















BRICK 8c TILE* 

IN MILLIONS. 


I860 CflP ' T * L 

PRODUCT 

1690 C " P ' T " 1 

PB00UCT 


10 20 30 40 SO (0 70 »0 







































' ' Lake group ' ' of states, comprising Michigan, Minne- 
sota, and Wisconsin, the product for these three states 
aggregating $190,410,409, or $81,464,016 more than 
the total product for the United States in i860. 

There were 1,678 establishments in i860 reported as 
engaged in the manufacture of brick and tile, with a 

capital of $7,- 
994,428 and a 
product of $11,- 
263,147. In 1890 
there were 5,828 
establishments 
reported, with a 
capital of $82,578,566 and a product of $67,770,695, 
being an increase of 502 per cent in the value of product. 

In i860 twenty-nine establishments were reported as 
engaged in the manufacture of articles from caoutchouc, 
or india rubber and gutta-percha, with a capital of 
$3,634,000 and a product valued at $5,768,450. The 
industry was largely confined to Connecticut, New 
York, and New Jersey, these three states reporting 82 
per cent of the entire product. By 1890 the number of 
establishments had increased to 168, and the capital to 
$36,804,261, an advance of 913 per cent, while the 
product was reported at $42,887,017, an increase of 



The Development of Industries, 1860-1890. 1S5 



Printing and 
publishing. 



643 per cent. The product of Massachusetts alone 
amounted to $19,492,831, or more than three times the 
entire value shown for i860, while Connecticut, Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode Island, and New Jersey returned 87 
per cent of the total product for the United States. 
The importation of crude india rubber advanced from Use of c ™ de 

r india rubber. 

2.125,561 pounds in 1863 to 42,962,554 pounds in 
1893. 

The only remaining industry that we shall consider 
as showing the industrial development since i860 is 
printing and publishing. The development of the print- 
ing and auxiliary industries is a true index to the prog- 
ress of civilization and the advance in all arts and manu- 
factures. The increase in the printing and publishing 
industry of the United States is far in advance of that 
of any other country, and has been in keeping with the 
rapid increase in population, wealth, and intelligence. 
In i860 printing and publishing, including newspapers, 
periodicals, books, and job printing, were reported by 
1,666 establish- 
ments, with a capital 
of $19,622,318 and 
a product of $31,- 
063,898. In 1890 
there were 16,566 
establishments re- 
ported for the same industry, with a capital of $195,- 
387,445 and a product of $275,452,515. Seventeen 
thousand six hundred and sixteen publications are re- 
ported as being in existence during 1890, of which 
14,901 reported as to circulation, the combined circu- 
lation per issue for this number being 69, 138,934 and the 
aggregate number of copies printed during the year 
4,681,113,530. 



PRINTING& PUBLISHING. 

IN MILLIONS. 


I860 C "' TRU 
OOU PRODUCT 

CBPITftL 

1890 

PRODUCT 


50 100 ISO too tso 























Number of pub- 
lications. 



1 86 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Analysis of 
manufactures. 



Illustration of 
use of raw 
material. 



It should be remembered that in all statements of the 
value of total product, whether for one census period or 
another, the values given relate solely to the value of 
the goods at the manufactory, as a rule ; that is to 
say, the value of the raw material, the aggregate wages 
paid, and all the expenses of production, together with 
reasonable interest and profit to the producer, constitute 
the valuation given. No calculation has been made in 
any case which would eliminate the raw material ; so 
there is a constant duplication, and sometimes a redu- 
plication, of values in the value of product, because the 
raw material of one manufacturer is the finished prod- 
uct of another. To illustrate specifically, the pro- 
ducer of nails purchases his pig-iron, of which nails are 
made, of the manufacturer of pig-iron, who makes it 
from the ore. The manufacturer of pig-iron has re- 
turned his product with the cost of his raw material, 
which is chiefly the ore. The manufacturer of nails re- 
turns the value of his nails and his raw material, which 
raw material he purchased of the producer of pig-iron. 
The manufacturer who uses nails in the construction of 
woodwork, or in any other way, returns the value of 
his finished product, his raw material, to a certain de- 
gree, being the nails or other hardware, the value of 
which has already been returned by the manufacturer of 
such hardware as his finished product, the latter' s raw 
material having been returned by the producer of pig- 
iron. This simple illustration shows the difficulty of ar- 
riving at the exact value of product in any one year, and 
also shows the limitations of the statistical method in se- 
curing such value; but as these duplications and redupli- 
cations appear in all statements relating to the value of 
product for the various years, the general comparison of 
the trend is fairly legitimate. Bearing these things in 



The Development of Industries, 1860-1890. 187 



mind, when it is stated that the total productions of the 

United States, during the constitutional period, cover- manufactures 

ing one hundred years of census-taking, have been ex- years! hundred 

tended from twenty millions of dollars, as estimated for 

the first census year (1790), to $9,372,437,283 in 1890, 

it does not matter much on what basis the accounts are 

taken so long as the account is fairly uniform in its 

methods through all the periods. 

The distribution of this vast product for 1890 among 
the states shows that those which were in the lead in Distribution in 
i860 are now in the lead, New York coming first, with l89 °' 
a product of $1,711,577,671. Pennsylvania is second 
in line, with a product of $1,331,794,901. Then comes 
Illinois, her product being $908,640,280. Massachu- 
setts, which was third in i860, is now the fourth state 
in productive power, the value of her manufactured 
goods in 1890 being $888,160,403. Ohio takes fifth 
place, her product being $641,688,064. These are the 
only states whose product is over half a billion dollars 
each. There are several ranging from one million to a 
quarter of a billion or more, and these states are New 
Jersey and Missouri, with over three hundred million ; 
Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, and Michigan, with 
about one quarter of a billion each. 

The center of the manufacturing interests of the 
country at different periods has been shown in the dia- inventions, 
gram given in the preceding chapter. The influence of 
inventions in this wonderful expansion has been greater, 
even, since i860 than during the period ending with 
that year, but these inventions are altogether too numer- 
ous to warrant any specific mention thereof, especially 
as the influence of some of the most important of them 
is shown in Chapter XXVIII., relating to the influ- 
ence of machinery on labor. 



1 88 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Civil War 
stimulated 
manufactures. 



Evolution leads 
to other con- 
siderations. 



Manufactures were also stimulated in a vast degree by 
the Civil War. The necessity of supplying great armies 
resulted in driving our manufactories to the utmost ca- 
pacity. The wonderful development of natural re- 
sources ; the discovery and development of new sources 
of supply of the metals ; the ambition to supply the 
home demand, ever increasing through immigration, 
and to send our manufactured goods to foreign markets 
— all these have made the past generation one of great 
industrial expansion. The stimulation given through 
various tariff movements has also had its effect ; but all 
these influences must be taken together when consider- 
ing the evolution of the industries of our country. This 
evolution, however, has carried along with it other 
movements having a deeper social and ethical signifi- 
cance than the mere accumulation of wealth, and atten- 
tion will now be turned to such matters. 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED AND THEIR TOTAL 
WAGES. 

The first authentic statistics concerning the total num- 
ber and wages of persons employed in establishments of 
manufacturing and mechanical industry of the United 
States are contained in the reports of the seventh 
census, being for the year 1850. The attempt was then 
made to ascertain the average number of men and 
women, respectively, employed during the year, with 
the total amount paid in wages for the same period. The 
average number reported was 957,059. 

At the sixth census, covering the year 1840, the Number 
number of employees was shown for a large variety of employed, 1840. 
industries, the total aggregating 564,617. The total of 
wages, however, was not reported, and the number can- 
not be accepted as a trustworthy index to the actual 
number engaged in establishments of productive indus- 
try during that year. The fact that an attempt was made 
to secure statistics on this subject, and that the number 
of workmen reported by the establishments that re- 
sponded to the call for information constituted three per 
cent of the total population, establishes the importance 
of the inquiry at that early date. 

While prior to 18^0 machinery was extensively em- 

* . . r . . . ... . Proportion of 

ployed in many lines of industry, the rapid development population 
of our present system of manufactures may be considered manufactures, 
as dating from that year. The proportion that the num- 

189 



1 90 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Number 
employed at 
various periods. 



Proportion at 

different 

periods. 



Basis of discus- 
sion. 



ber actually employed by establishments was of the entire 
population in 1850 and at subsequent periods is as fol- 
lows: 1850, 4. 1 3 percent; i860, 4. 17 per cent ; 1870, 5.33 
per cent ; 1880, 5.45 per cent; and 1890, 7.53 percent. 
The figures for 1870, 1880, and 1890 do not include the 
number engaged in mining, quarries, or fisheries, but, 
notwithstanding this fact, the proportion has steadily in- 
creased. The numbers of employees on which these 
percentages are based are the average numbers reported 
by establishments as having been employed during the 
year. If the number of persons having occupations 
that fall in the different mechanical and manufacturing 
pursuits, irrespective of whether they are employed by 
establishments, work independently at odd jobs, or are 
idle, is considered, it will be found that the proportion 
they form of the total population at the different cen- 
sus periods is as follows : i860, 5.91 per cent ; 1870, 
6.36 per cent; 1880, 6.81 per cent ; and 1890, 8.13 
per cent. The total population is used in computing 
these percentages ; therefore they should not be con- 
sidered as indicating the proportion that those actually 
engaged in such occupations are of the total number 
who could so engage. If the percentage for 1890 is 
based on the population of fifteen years of age and over, 
it will be found that those having mechanical or manu- 
facturing occupations amount to 12.61 per cent of the 
total. 

While data concerning actual and average wages of 
all classes of mechanics have been collected and are dis- 
cussed in a subsequent chapter, the facts presenting the 
aggregate amounts expended in wages have been con- 
fined to the operations of establishments of productive 
industry. In other words, no attempt has been made to 
ascertain the grand total of the earnings of all persons 



Number of Employees and Total Wages. 191 



TOTAL NUMBER OF EMPLOYES. 

IN MILUON'S. 


1850 
1890 


1 2 5 






















1 


r 



engaged in mechanical and manufacturing industries. 

The increase in the number of employees and in the 
total and average wages, the decrease in the proportion 
of the product of manufactures assigned to labor, and 
the increase in the productive capacity of employees, are 
the three principal effects that the development of the 
factory system has had on employees and wages. 

As an indication of the increase in the number and 
wages, it appears that in 1850 the average number of 
employees was 
reported at 
957.059 and the 
total wages as 

$236,755,464- 
In 1890 the 
number is reported as 4,712,622 and the wages as 
$2,283,216,529. Owing to improved statistical methods, 
the totals for 1890 include certain elements not reported, 
or not fully reported, for previous years. Reducing the 
figures, as far as possible, to a comparable basis, the 
number appears as 4,286,523 and the total wages 
$1,911,137,838, an increase of 3,329,464, or 347.88 per 
cent, in number, and of $1,674,382,374, or 707.22 per 
cent, in total wages, over 1850. During the same period 
the average annual earnings per employee increased from 
$247.38 to $445.85, being an increase of $198.47, or 
80.22 per cent. 

In contrast with the increase in the bulk and average 
wages is the decrease in the proportion of the net value 
of product assigned to labor. The net value of product 
is the value remaining after deducting the cost of ma- 
terials, and may be considered as the value added to the 
cost of the raw materials by the combined operation of 
capital and labor. The total for all industries in the 



Proportion of 
employees to 
product. 



Total wage? 
1850-1890. 



Average 
earnings. 



Increased bulk 
and decreased 
value of 
product. 



192 Industrial Evolutio7i of the United States. 



United States shows that in 1850 fifty-one per cent of 
the net value was assigned to labor and in 1890 forty- 
five per cent. The decrease in the proportional amount 
assigned to labor is offset, to a considerable extent, by 
the increase in interest account, which is also payable 



TOTAL WAGES PAID TO ALL EMPLOYES. 

IN MILLIONS. 


1850 
1890 


200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600. 1800 2000 2Z00 



























out of the net product, as the average amount of capital 
required for a product valued at $100 increased from 
$52.32 in 1850 to $69.62 in 1890. 

Of the numerous causes that combined to produce the 
general increase in the number of employees and in 
wages and the decrease in the proportion of the value 
of the finished product assigned to labor, the adoption 
of machinery and labor-saving devices is at once the 
most important and the most easy of practical demon- 
stration. 

The cost of materials is generally the principal item of 
expense in manufacturing, and as this cost is included in 
the gross value of product, the industries that appar- 
ently produce the greatest value do not necessarily en- 
gage the greatest number of employees. Excluding the 
mechanical trades, such as masonry, blacksmithing, and 
carpentering, we find that the manufactures reporting 
the greatest number of employees are those in which 
machinery is largely employed, such as the textiles, 
boots and shoes, clothing, and various metal and wood- 
working industries. 

As illustrative of this fact, it appears that in 1850 the 



Number of Employees and Total Wages. 



193 



New England States and New York, Pennsylvania, and 
New Jersey reported seventy-three per cent of all the 
employees and seventy per cent of the gross value of 
product. The wide application of the factory system wide appika- 
that has occurred since 1850 has not been sufficient to factory system, 
counterbalance this disproportion, the percentages in 
1890 standing fifty-four and fifty-two, respectively. 
During the same period the increase in the number of 
employees in these states was 233 per cent, and in the 
value of product 584 per cent. While the percentage 
of increase in the United States, exclusive of the states 
named, has been greater, the increase in employees be- number^? em- 
ing 643 per cent and in the value of product 1,376 per ?L°u e e f and 
cent, the disproportion in the increase in the value of product ' 
product and employees is also greater. In other words, 
the increase of employees in old established manufac- 
turing centers has been more in keeping with the increase 
in the value of product than in comparatively newly de- 
veloped districts. 

It requires 1 . 1 2 employees on an average to produce persons to each 
a net product valued at $1,000, as obtained from the produc7.° rth ° f 
total for the New England States, New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, and New Jersey, while the totals for the Western 
States indicate that a net product of the same value re- 
quires, on an average, .9 of one employee. In the New 
England States fifty-seven per cent of the net product 
was assigned to labor, as compared with fifty-two per 
cent in the rest of the country, the proportion going as 
low as fifty-one per cent in the South Central States, the 
wages, in each instance, including the salaries of officers 
and clerks. It must not be inferred from these percent- 
ages that the introduction of machinery in any particular 
industry has been invariably followed by the employ- 
ment of a larger number of persons to a product of a 



1 94 Industrial Evolutio7i of the United States. 



given value. They do show that in the sections of the 
country where machinery is extensively used and where 
the products, as a whole, are of a more highly finished 
character, more persons are required to produce a given 
value than in sections where these features do not 
predominate. 

The increase in the number and wages of employees 
in the manufacture of textiles and of boots and shoes, 
two industries in which machinery has reached the great- 
est perfection, is as follows : The manufacture of textiles 
reported 194,082 employees in i860, receiving $40,353,- 
462 in wages, as compared with 501,718, excluding offi- 
cers, firm members, and clerks, and $163,516,593 in 
wages for 1890. The average annual earnings per em- 
ployee in i860 were $207.92, and in 1890 $325.91, the 
increase during the thirty years being 56.75 per cent. 

In the manufacture of boots and shoes the number of 
employees increased 53,843, the total wages $49,563,- 
342, and the average annual earnings $242.01, or 1 17.81 
per cent, during the forty years from 1850 to 1890. 

The extensive application of machinery in the manu- 
facture of boots and shoes dates from the decade of 
1 850-1 860. During this period the proportion of the 
net product assigned to labor decreased from seventy- 
two per cent to sixty-three per cent ; the average annual 
earnings increased from $205.43 to $ 2 5 I -4^ ; the net 
product increased sixty-three per cent, and the capital 
required for one dollar of net product increased from 
forty-three to forty-eight cents. In the thirty years 
from i860 to 1890 the proportion of net product as- 
signed to labor decreased to fifty-three per cent ; the an- 
nual earnings increased to $447.44; the net product 
increased 171 percent, and the capital required for one 
dollar of net product to eighty-eight cents. 



Number of Employees and Total Wages. 195 



As illustrative of the increase in the productive ca- 
pacity of employees, we find that in 1830 one operative ^"irSes tcT each 
was required for every 25.02 spindles in the cotton manu- operative, 
facture, but owing to perfected machinery, improved 
processes, and the development of industrial skill, the 
number of spindles operated by one employee had in- 
creased to 64.82 in 1890. 

Not only has the expansion of our manufacturing in- 
terests followed upon the adoption of machinery, but the w 

1 r J / Machwiery 

number and productive capacity of the operatives have results in ex- 

A # 1 J L pansion. 

increased, while there has been an increase in the wages 
and a reduction in working time. The cost of manu- 
facture and the proportion of the product assigned to 
labor have decreased, while the capital and interest ac- 
count have materially increased. 

Accepting these general conclusions to be the results 
of the various changes that have occurred in the status 
of employees during the development of our factory 
system, a brief consideration of the employees and 
wages as reported at the United States Census of 1890 
will be profitable. 

The figures substantiate the theory that wages are 
highest in the Western States, where the cost of living" Wages highest 

•1-11-1 vxr -11 -1 in Western 

is relatively higher. Wyoming leads, with an average states, 
annual wage for male operatives, including skilled and 
unskilled but not pieceworkers, of $806, and is followed 
by Colorado, with an average of $685. The industry 
reporting the highest average wages for the same class of 
employees is the manufacture of paper patterns, the 
average being $773. Comparatively few establishments 
and employees are reported for the states and industries 
showing the very highest wages. These averages, 
therefore, cannot be accepted as a true indication of the 
general average for the United States. 



196 Industrial Evohitioii of the United States. 



Concentration 
of industries. 



In cities. 



Officers and 
firm members. 



Earnings of 
officers and of 
employees. 



Highest skill 
now demanded. 



The concentration of the principal industries in fewer 
and larger establishments has resulted in a comparatively 
few establishments controlling a large proportion of the 
total employees. Nine hundred and five cotton facto- 
ries, for instance, report 221,585 employees, on an aver- 
age, each day of the year, while eleven establishments 
manufacturing rubber boots and shoes report over 9,000 
employees, or 842 per establishment, being the largest 
number reported for the average establishment in any 
industry during the year 1890. The general concen- 
tration of manufactures in cities is shown by the fact 
that the cities with a population of 20,000 and over, 
while contributing twenty-four per cent of the popu- 
lation, gave employment to sixty-two per cent of the 
employees reported by establishments of productive 
industry. 

The reports disclose that 418,081 male and 42,928 
female officers, firm members, and clerks were actively 
engaged in manufacturing or in supervision, to whom 
$391,988,208 was credited as salaries, or an average an- 
nual earnings of $850.28 as compared with $444.83 for 
all other employees. There appears, on an average, 
one clerk, officer, or firm member to every 9.22 em- 
ployees, the office force constituting about one tenth of 
the total number. 

The constantly increasing intricacy of manufactures, 
and the necessity for close and accurate calculations on 
the total cost, and the different elements of cost that 
enter into each of the different stages of process, as 
well as the never-ceasing changes in fashion, demanding 
new and tasteful designs, tend to increase the im- 
portance of the office force. The highest skill and 
scientific knowledge, combined with practical experi- 
ence, are demanded. Probably in no industry is this 



Number of Employees and Total Wages. 197 



more emphasized than in the manufacture of chemicals, 
as at present conducted. Chemical engineering forms 
the important factor in the adjustment of the costly 
machinery and the direction of the numerous opera- 
tions that produce the unlimited variety of products 
from this industry, while the laboratory, with its corps 
of careful workers, forms the pulse of the entire estab- 
lishment. With the concentration of industries and the 
increase in the size of the establishments, the number 
and importance of the office force will increase. 

The tendency in all industries is to regulate the pay pieceworkers 
of pieceworkers to conform to the pay of operatives en- earnings! 
gaged in the same line of work, and the totals of all 
classes of manufactures during 1890 show that while the 
annual earnings of male operatives of all classes were 
$498, those of pieceworkers amounted to $500. The 
average annual earnings of female operatives amounted 
to $276, and of pieceworkers to $255. The piecework- 
ers constitute sixteen per cent of the total employees, £ n cf operatic 
there being about one to every 4. 6 operatives. Piece- com P ared - 
workers are employed to the greatest extent in the manu- 
facture of clothing, their numbers, in some branches of 
the industry, exceeding the number of regular opera- 
tives. Much of the work in this industry can be readily 
performed at the homes of the workers. One manufac- 
turer frequently engages a number of independent con- 
tractors, who in turn employ numerous hands to work 
by the piece. The ramifications of the industry render 
it practically impossible to obtain the exact number of 
pieceworkers actually employed. The average number 
is reported at 145,640, as compared with 159,392 opera- 
tives, but the actual number is somewhat in excess of 
this total. 

The greatest number of employees in the establish- 



198 Industrial Evolutioii of the United States. 



ments engaged in the mechanical and manufacturing in- 
skfiied fi and° n ° f dustries are reported as skilled and unskilled operatives, 
unskilled. The average number of men, women, and children of 
this class employed during each day of 1890 was 3,492,- 
029, receiving $1,590,516,997 as wages, the number be- 
ing seventy-four per cent of all employees and the wages 
seventy per cent of the total wages. The men num- 
bered 2,881,795, receiving $1,436,482,387 as wages ; 
the women numbered 505,712, receiving $139,329,719 
as wages ; and the children numbered 104,522, receiv- 
ing $14,704,891 as wages. 

The development of the factory system in almost every 
line of industry tends to a concentration of the labor in 
the factory building. While the introduction of ma- 
chinery and the improved skill of the operatives have 
greatly increased the quantity and reduced the cost of 
the product, the growing competition in all lines causes 
a constant pressure for a greater quantity at less cost, 
and the employment of pieceworkers at the works, under 
factory regulations and discipline, is conducive to this 
result. It stimulates to greater exertions, while guard- 
ing against overwork by regulating the hours of labor, 
and gives the workman the advantage of good sanitary 
increase in surroundings. The number of pieceworkers so engaged 
pieceworkers. ls rapidly increasing, and they are so closely identified 
with the operative receiving pay according to time that 
in a general report for the entire establishment there is 
apt to be no distinction made between the two classes. 
Therefore, the number of operatives cannot be consid- 
ered as consisting entirely of employees receiving pay ac- 
cording to time. The class, however, represents the mass 
of the workingmen in these industries, and their wages 
are the true criterion of the actual earnings. The aver- 
age annual earnings for men of this class were $498, for 



Number of Employees and Total Wages. 199 



women $276, and for children $141. The earnings for 
this class in 1890, as obtained from the totals for the 165 Earnings of 
cities that had a population of 20,000 and over, were for Schifdren! 
men $567.54, for women $291.80, and for children 
$159.23. In the districts outside of the cities the aver- 
ages were for men $401.34, for women $239.88, and for 
children $120.87. The excess of the general average 
for the cities over that for the United States or for the 
districts outside of the cities is due to numerous causes, 
the most important of which is the excess in living ex- 
penses. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN INDUSTRY. 

It cannot be said that women and children consti- 
tuted an economic factor during the colonial days. Their 
in eariyperiod. labor was not in demand, except in a domestic sense, to 
any great extent. To be sure, the spinning and weav- 
ing that were carried on in the homes were done by 
women, but it would be incorrect to say that they en- 
tered into the mechanical industries of the times, for 
they were not hired to do these things as a rule, but did 
them as a part of their household duties, although near 
the close of the colonial period women and children had 
been introduced into some works, particularly in the set- 
ting of wire teeth in the wool and cotton-cards that were 
used for the hand-combing of the fiber. The manufac- 
ture of cards had become quite extensive by 1784, one 
factory alone, it is alleged, employing about one thou- 
sand and two hundred hands, chiefly women and chil- 
dren. In the early days of this particular industry the 
women worked at setting the teeth very much as they 
did at knitting, taking the board and teeth home with 
them, and even carrying them out when they went to 
Mr. Hamilton's s P en d an afternoon with a neighbor. Mr. Hamilton, in 
report. fas report on manufactures made to Congress in 1791, 

which has been referred to, speaks of the ' ' vast scene of 
household manufacturing which contributes more largely 
to the supply of the community than could be imagined 
without having it made an object of particular inquiry. 

200 



Women and Children in Industry. 201 



Great quantities of coarse cloths, coatings, serges, and 
flannels, linsey-woolseys, hosiery of wool, cotton, and 
thread, coarse fustians, jeans and muslins, checked and 
striped cotton and linen goods, bedticks, coverlets, and Early manufac- 
counterpanes, tow linens, coarse shirtings, sheetings, 
toweling and table linen, and various mixtures of wool 
and cotton, and of cotton and flax, are made in the 
household way, and, in many instances, to an extent not 
only sufficient for a supply of the families in which they 
are made, but for sale, and even in some cases for ex- 
portation. It is computed in a number of districts that 
two thirds, three fourths, and even four fifths of all the 
clothing of the inhabitants are made by themselves." 
So it appears from these brief historical references that 
by 1790 the never-ceasing industry of the women was 
the principal factor in the development of a manufacture 
that was probably contributing more directly to the per- 
sonal comfort and prosperity of the people than any 
other then in existence. Important as the industry was, 
the large majority of the women engaged in it considered 
it an adjunct to their household duties, as has been stated, Adjuncts to 

. . r 1 • 1 r 1 • 1 household 

and not as a gainful occupation — that is, one for which duties, 
they were to receive particular remuneration — for the 
larger portion of the product of their work was con- 
sumed by the family in which it was produced. 

With the establishment of the factory system the em- 

1 M j Demand came 

ployment 01 women and children became more common ; with factory, 
yet there was a prejudice against women taking places 
at the looms and the spinning machines of the textile 
factories. After the invention of spinning and weaving 
machinery in England, and the textile factory there be- 
came a fixed element in industry, women were brought 
into it from the rural districts, and the labor of children 
taken from the almshouses was absorbed. By these 



2o2 Inditstrial Evolutio7i of the United States. 



Prejudice 
against the 
employment 
of women. 



Women and 
children under 
the factory 
system. 



Employments of 
women in 1840. 



Now found 
everywhere. 



methods the manufacturers were enabled to secure their 
employees at very low compensation. On this account, 
when the factory was established in America, and the 
services of women and children were sought, there was 
a great prejudice against it, and for the first ten or 
twenty years after the permanent establishment of the 
factory system proprietors were obliged to offer extra in- 
ducements for women to enter their service. 

By 181 5 the textile industry had practically passed 
into the factory system, and by 1830 the old household 
industry was rapidly disappearing. Prior to 181 5 
women and children, to some extent, were engaged in 
occupations for which they received money or its equiva- 
lent as compensation for their services. Their more ex- 
tended employment and the establishment of their 
position as independent wage-workers date practically 
from the period between 18 15 and 1830. They followed 
the textile industries into the factories, and the consoli- 
dation of industries in large establishments instead of 
small, individual shops broadened the field and gave 
women opportunities of entering independently into the 
gainful pursuits, which they gladly embraced ; yet they 
were employed in but few occupations even then. Har- 
riet Martineau, an English lady, who visited America 
in 1840, related that she found but seven employments 
open to women — teaching, needle-work, keeping board- 
ers, working in cotton-mills, type-setting, working in 
book-binderies, and household service. A study of the 
industrial conditions of the present time convinces one 
that now there are but few lines of remunerative employ- 
ment not occupied to some extent by women. They 
are found in nearly all departments of governmental 
work, and there is hardly a single field where women 
are not employed. This general entrance into the in- 



Women and Children in Industry. 203 



dustrial field was assured when the factory system of 
labor displaced the hand-labor system, for the factory 
system was concretely the result of the universal tend- 
ency to association inherent in our nature, and under 
the development of which every advance in human im- 
provement and human happiness has been made. 

The age of invention must be held accountable for 
this entrance of woman into spheres entirelv strange and invention 

1 jo largely account- 

unknown to her prior to that age, for under the hand- able for empioy- 

* . ment of women. 

labor system she was used to home duties, to field 
drudgery, and to the work necessary for the assistance 
of her husband or father in the hand labor which he 
performed, and under that system she lived a narrow, 
contracted, unwholesome life in the lower walks of in- 
dustry, and she was not known or recognized in the 
higher. As an economic factor, either in art or litera- 
ture or industry, she was hardly recognizable ; but with Woman an 

, 11-1 r 1 1 • economic force. 

the establishment 01 the new system, the attraction to 
women to earn more than they could earn as domestic 
servants or in some fields of agricultural labor, or to 
earn something where before they had earned nothing, 
constituted them an economic force, the result of which 
has been that women have assumed the position and are 
obliged therefore to submit to all the conditions of a 
new economic factor. It can hardly be said, however, 
that in the lower forms of labor in industrial pursuits 
women have superseded men. On the contrary, they women have 
have supplemented the work of men, and the necessities work^ofmenl 
of the people which could be supplied under the new 
system of labor made it possible for them to supplement 
the services of men. Women were paid a lower rate of women paid 
wage than men, although subsequent to their intro- wage than men. 
duction as economic factors men were obliged some- 
times to take practically the same wage when performing 



204 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



the same duty as women, but the wages that were paid 
were not so much lower as it is often supposed they 
were, when the same lines of duty are considered. 
There has been a constant change from lower to 

Higher grades higher forms of employment. From factory operatives 
women have entered higher grades, as teachers, book- 
keepers, telegraph operators, etc., and as their expert- 
ness has been recognized the demand for skilled and 
well-equipped employees of course increased ; but with 
this demand there has been a corresponding and a com- 
pensating absorption of the labor of men in the great 
developing enterprises of America.* 

It is unfortunate, in the treatment of this particular 
subject, that statistics as to the actual number of women 
and children employed in all remunerative occupations 

Meager statis- in the country are not obtainable back of 1870. Facts 

tics back of 1 870. . . 

as to their wages are quite fully given back to 183 1. It 
is interesting to note the change of conditions as indi- 
cated by numbers, and the information as to the number 
generally employed can be ascertained for all the decen- 
nial periods since and including 1850, at which time there 
were, according to the census of that year, 225,298 

Number in 1 t . 1 . 

manufactories female and 741,671 male employees m the manufacturing 
industries of the country. This gives 1 female to every 
3.29 males. In many industries that developed rapidly, 
however, heavy manual labor and physical endurance, 
rather than skill, were required of the employees. In 
such industries women could not engage ; therefore the 
proportionate number of women in the total for all in- 
dustries existing in 1850 cannot be considered excessively 
small. In those industries in which women could and did 
engage from the inception of the factory system they had 



* Cf. " Why Women are Paid Less than Men," by the author : 
July, 1892, 



The Forum, 



Women and Children in Industry. 205 



Ratio of males 
to females. 



women in 
manufacturing 
establishments, 
1850. 



held their own, in numbers at least. In the wool manu- 
facture, for instance, there was 1 female to every 1.4 
males, and in the cotton and hosiery manufacture there 
was 1 male to every 1.8, or about every 2, females. In 
industries such as tailoring, the manufacture of hats and 
caps, gloves, india rubber goods, millinery, umbrellas, 
and others where a rapidity of movement and a delicacy 
of touch which could not be supplied by mechanical de- 
vices were required, the number of females exceeded the 
males. 

Women formed 23.30 per cent of all employees en- Percentage of 
gaged in manufacturing establishments in 1850. The 
proportionate number, however, has been constantly de- 
creasing, women furnishing but 17.21 per cent of the 
total number of employees in manufacturing industries 
in 1890. The actual number has increased in a ratio 
somewhat in excess of the decrease in the relative num- 
ber. During the forty years from 1850 to 1890 the 
actual number of women employed in manufacturing in- 
dustries increased 531,765, or 235 per cent. The num- 
ber of children employed in manufactures was first as- 
certained in 1870, when 114,628, including both sexes, 
were reported, 
this number be- 
ing 5-58 per cent 
of all employees. 
As in the case of 
women, the pro- 
portionate num- 
ber of children 
has steadily de- 
creased, till in 

1890 they formed but 2.57 per cent of the total ; the 
decrease in the number of children has been not only 



Increase in 
number of 
women. 




2o6 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



relative, but actual, which decrease is due primarily to 
legislation in the several states, prohibiting the employ- 
ment of children under a certain age in any manufactur- 
ing, mechanical, or mercantile establishment. The laws 
relating to this particular subject have been outlined in 
the chapters on labor legislation. 

During the decade of years from 1870 to 1880 there 
occurred the greatest increase in the number of women 
and children employed, the actual increase being 58.21 
per cent for women and 54.39 per cent for children, 
while during the following decade of years the children 
decreased 34.09 per cent. The women, however, in- 
creased 47.91 per cent, as we have seen. These per- 
centages indicate the extent of the increase in the num- 
ber of women and the decrease in the number of children 
employed in mechanical and manufacturing establish- 
ments in the United States, considering the total for all 
branches of industry, and including those in which 
women are not likely to engage, at least to any extent. 

In actual numbers there were 3,745,123 men, 846,614 
women, and 120,885 children, on an average, employed 
in the mechanical and manufacturing industries during 
1890, there being 1 woman to every 4.4 men and 1 child 
to every 7 women. The number of women and chil- 
dren employed in manufactures in any locality is con- 
trolled by the character of the predominating industries 
and the proportion their number is of the total popula- 
tion. The women form a larger percentage of the total 
population of the New England and Middle States than 
they do of other sections, and the predominating indus- 
tries are of the character in which they can engage. We 
therefore find that the proportionate number of women 
employed is greater there than in any other section. On 
the other hand, the laws against the employment of 



Women and Children in Industry. 207 



children are generally more stringent in New England 

than elsewhere, and the number of children employed is Laws reguis 

r J ting their en 

proportionately less than in other states. The figures payment, 
support this theory in the following manner : 

The women employed in the New England and Middle 
States in 1890 were 69 per cent of the total for the United 
States, while the children were but 52 per cent of all 
children ; there were 3. 3 men to each woman and 9. 2 
women to each child employed. In the United States ex- 
clusive of the New England and Middle States there were 
7.0 men to each woman and 4.6 women to each child. 
Almost three fourths of the women and but little over 
one half of the children employed in the mechanical 
and manufacturing 



the 



NUMBER OF CHILDREN EMPLOYES. 
ALL INDUSTRIES. 

IN THOUSANDS. 


1870 
I88O 
1890 




5 50 75 100 125 150 175 































industries of 
United States are 
engaged in the fac- 
tories of the New 
England and Mid- 
dle States. There 
are more than twice 
as many men to each woman and less than half as many 
women to each child employed in the remaining states 
as there are in the New England and Middle States. If 
we look at the actual increase during the twenty years 
from 1870 to 1890, we find that the number of women 
employed in the New England and Middle States in- 
creased 314,251 and the children decreased 14,585, 
while in the remaining states the women increased 208,- 
593 and the children increased 20,842. 

For similar reasons the employment of women in the 
manufactures of cities is more general, and the children 
proportionately less, than in the rural districts. In the 
principal cities the females constituted 20.49 per cent of 



Decrease 
in number of 
children em- 
ployed. 



More general 
in cities. 



2o8 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Proportion of 
women and 
children in 
cities. 



Increase of 
women in shoe 
and textile 
industries. 



Proportion in 
1890. 



the total employees in 1890 and in the districts outside 
the cities 13.89 per cent, the proportionate number in 
the cities being 6.60 per cent greater. The children 
form 2.10 per cent of the total employees in the cities 
and 3.31 per cent in the country. 

The textiles and the manufacture of boots and shoes 
are among the oldest factory industries in the United 
States, and the increase in the number of women em- 
ployed in them can be considered as indicating the rate 
of increase in all industries in which women are likely 
to engage to any extent. Taking the total for wool, 
hosiery, and cotton factories, we find that in 1850 the 
women formed 57 per cent of the total employees, there 
being 1 man to every 1.3 women. In 1890 the women 
formed 48 per cent of the total, there being 1 man to 
every 1.1 women. During the forty years the men in- 
creased 129,366, or 214 per cent, and the women 133,- 
177, or 168 per cent. In 1890 the women formed 41 
per cent of the total employees in wool manufacture, 67 
per cent in hosiery, and 48 per cent in cotton. There 
were 32,949 women and 72,305 men reported as em- 
ployed by establishments engaged in the manufacture of 
boots and shoes during 1850, which probably included 
the employees of a large number of small custom shops. 
In 1890 the factory industry alone reported 96,233 men, 
43,213 women, and 2,839 children, the women forming 
30 per cent of the total, as compared with 3 r per cent 
in 1850, there being about two men to every woman at 
both periods, but during the forty years the men in- 
creased 33 and the women 31 per cent. 

The initiatory employment of women in these two in- 
dustries was in many respects different ; women were en- 
gaged extensively in the textile industries when the manu- 
facture entered the factory system, and they necessarily 



Women and Children in Industry. 209 



women em- 
ployed in- 
creases. 



passed into the employment of the factories. Women 
were not so extensively engaged in the manufacture of 
boots and shoes, and when the manufacture became a 
factory industry it opened to them almost an entirely 
new field. The statistics show that while the percentage 
of increase in the number of women employed in the 
textiles is much larger than in the manufacture of boots 
and shoes, due to the larger number employed, the pro- 
portionate number has decreased much more rapidly 
than in the boot and shoe industry. In other words, the 
extent to which women can displace the labor of men in 
the textiles having been more nearly attained at some 
period between 1850 and 1890 than in the boot and shoe 
industry, the proportionate number began to diminish. 

While the number of women employed in industries in Number of 
which they were engaged at the inception of the factory 
system has been increasing, it is interesting to notice, as 
illustrative of their engaging in new pursuits, that during 
the decade of years from 1880 to 1890 not only the 
largest percentages of increase are shown for the indus- 
tries and states reporting a relatively small number of 
women in 1880, but also that the relative number of 
women employed in such sections and industries has 
also increased. 

All the industries in the United States, and their vari- classification of 
ety is practically unlimited, were assigned to one of Jgjj" stries ln 
three hundred and sixty-nine general groups at the 
census of 1890. An examination of the totals of these 
groups discloses the fact that in only nine of them are no 
women or children employed. Their employment, there- 
fore, either as clerks, operatives, or apprentices, may be 
considered as universal. The apparent number of voca- 
tions in which women cannot engage is constantly di- 
minishing, and is now relatively very small. 



2io Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



The subject of the actual and relative wages of women 
Wages of increases in importance with the increase in the number 

women *>nri 



children. employed in the mechanical and manufacturing indus- 

tries, and with the extent to which they displace the 
labor of men. The rapid increase in the number of 
women employed in certain lines of industry, the de- 
crease in the number of children, and the normal increase 
in the number of men employed in the same industry, 
indicate that the women are, to some extent, supplying 
the places of the children and engaging in the cheaper 
classes of labor. Notwithstanding this fact, the greatest 
percentage of gain in average wages in the cotton indus- 

Average tr ^ * s * n ^ avor °f ^ ema ^ Q employees. The average 

earnings of weekly earnings for women in the cotton factories of 

women and 7 

children in New England in 18^1 ranged from $2. 20 to $2.60, and 

cotton manufac- & . 

turing states. for men from $4.50 to $7.00, while the average for chil- 
dren was from $1.50 to $2.00. In 1880 the average for 
women ranged as high as $6.37, for men $9.05, and for 
children $3.30. Between 1831 and 1880 men's wages 
had increased 38 per cent, women's wages 149 per cent, 
and children's 115 per cent. These averages, being for 
the five leading cotton manufacturing states, are a true 
indication of the general relative increase for the indus- 
try in the entire country. In 1890 the average in the 
same industry for the entire United States for women was 
$5.53, ranging from $3.21 to $6.42, and for men $7.75, 
ranging from $5.17 to $10.44, the average for children 
being $2.65. The highest averages for all classes were 
reported for the New England and Middle States and 
the lowest for the Southern States. 

The average annual earnings for women clerks during 
1890, as obtained from the total for all industries, was 
$462, and for men $890. The women operatives re- 
ceived $276, as compared with $498 for men, the aver- 



VVo?ne?i and Children in Industry. 211 



age for children in the same class being $141. The dis- 
proportion between the wages of the sexes is further 
emphasized by the fact that the men formed 82.53 per 
cent of the total operatives and received 90.32 per cent 
of the total wages of operatives, while the women formed 
14.48 per cent of the number and received but 8.76 per 
cent of the wages. The proportion of wages in the case 
of men exceeds the number by 7.79 per cent, and in the 
case of women falls short of the number by 5.72 per 
cent. A careful examination of the actual earnings of 
women discloses the fact that in many industries their 
average earnings equal or exceed the earnings of the 
men. This is especially true of the pieceworkers. 

It should be remembered that as men have stepped up 
into higher occupations, those which have come up as 
new callings in life, they have received comparatively 
higher compensation than women in the old occupations. 
The latter have occupied the positions of book-keepers, 
telegraphers, and many of what might be called semi- 
professional callings ; and as women have occupied 
them, men have entered higher callings — engineering, 
electrical and mechanical, and other spheres of life 
that were not known when women first stepped into 
the industrial field. As women have progressed from 
entire want of employment to employment which 
pays a few dollars per week, men, too, have pro- 
gressed in their employments and occupied entirely 
new fields not known before. So the facts certainly 
indicate that women, instead of crowding upon the 
men to as great an extent as is generally supposed, are 
rapidly taking the places of boys and girls and doing the 
work which they formerly did in our factories. The con- 
stantly increasing proportion of men indicates this, but 
supplemented by the constantly decreasing number of 



Disproportion 
in wages of the 
sexes. 



Men take 
higher em- 
ployments. 



Women largely 
take the places 
of boys and 
girls. 



212 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



children, the fact becomes apparent. It is to be hoped 
^children aS *k at ^ Q legislation of the different states will progress to 
such an extent as to keep children under fourteen or 
fifteen years of age entirely out of manufacturing estab- 
lishments. Many of the states do this, practically pro- 
hibiting children under ten years of age from working in 
mechanical and manufacturing pursuits, and it is gratify- 
ing to know that the proportion of children has not only 
fallen during the last ten or fifteen years but is constantly 
and rapidly falling. 

The employment of women in mechanical pursuits 
Number of opens many questions for ethical study, one of the chief 
women. being the employment of married women. There are no 

very general or very trustworthy statistics on this sub- 
ject, but so far as investigation shows it may be esti- 
mated with a fair degree of accuracy that about ten per 
cent of the women employed in the manufacturing indus- 
tries of the country are married. 

Another interesting subject which their employment 

Reasons for . . • 1 1 1 

lower pay. suggests is the reasons why women are paid less than 
men, when that is the case, and, except as already pointed 
out, it is usually so. The chief reasons why she receives 
a lower compensation are largely economic. She has 
stepped out of industrial subjection and come into the 
industrial system as an entirely new economic factor. 
If there were no other reasons, this alone would be suf- 
ficient to keep her wages low and prevent their very 
rapid increase ; but there are other reasons which, with 
that just stated, keep her at work at low compensation. 
She' occupies a lower standard, caused to some extent by 
a lower standard of life, both in physical features and 
in mental demands. She is also the victim of the in- 
fluence of the assistance which she receives in a large 
proportion of cases from her family and friends. This 



Women and Children in Industry. 213 



works positively to lower her economic standard, keeps 
her industrial productivity at a low grade, and actually 
compels her to stand on a lower plane than do men. 
The quantity and the quality of the work which she per- Discussion as 

e . r to low pay. 

forms are influenced by this reason. Then, again, she 
rarely enters industrial pursuits with a sufficient equip- 
ment for life-work. This is not the result of any 
incapacity of mind or lack of skill, but is due largely 
to the hope that the permanence of work will be in- 
terrupted by matrimony. She suffers also from a lack 
of technical training, and does not feel warranted in 
spending years in equipping herself for the best service. 
While competition has had a great deal to do with bring- 
ing about the present industrial condition of woman as a 
recognized fact, it has also had much to do in keeping 
her compensation at a low point, for as she has come 
into industry as a new economic factor, the pressure to 
secure positions has created an artificial supply altogether 
out of proportion to the demand ; so every position she 
might occupy is sought by many, the result being that 
her remuneration is within the power of the employer.* 
It is gratifying to learn, from the facts that can be ex- 
amined, that woman's condition is constantly being Woman's con- 

, dition improv- 

bettered. Certainly women workers, as a class, are be- ing. 
ginning to understand the power and the force which 
come from organization. Working girls' clubs are being 
formed everywhere, and through these clubs there will 
come a removal of some of the injustice which has 
been done women in mechanical and manufacturing 
pursuits. Their social and economic powers will be 
extended and recognized through the power of asso- 
ciation. The work of their organizations is very 



* For a fuller discussion of this feature of the employment of women, see 
the article in The Forum for July, 1892, already referred to. 



214 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Women not 
making war 
upon capital. 



Their employ- 
ment the 
subject of legal 
restriction. 



largely ethical. Women are not making war upon 
capital or forcing their demands for higher pay as the 
broad result of organization, but through an association 
of interests and the bringing of their condition to public 
attention, they are securing the gradual recognition of 
their value as an economic factor. The influence of 
their organization will be felt in many directions. Their 
employment has become more and more the subject of 
legal restriction. They have heretofore been classed 
with children, and legislatures have felt it incumbent 
upon them to regulate their employment so far as hours 
and conditions were concerned. Men have been bene- 
fited by legislative interference in the employment of 
women, for although it has never yet been deemed wise 
to interfere with the employment of men, yet they have 
found their work regulated to a certain degree through 
the regulation of the work of women and children. It 
is a significant fact that without law the hours of labor of 
men were long ago lessened, while the hours of labor of 
women and children were reduced only by means of 
positive legislative enactments. Now, with the rational 
presentation of their conditions by themselves, legis- 
lative restrictions will take on more and more of the 
rational elements. As the facts relative to the employ- 
ment of women become more and better known the pub- 
lic can more fully comprehend the whole ethical, social, 
and political effect of their employment in manufactur- 
ing establishments. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



LABOR AND RATES OF WAGES, I79O-189O.* 

A statement of the actual or average wages for any statements of 
period or locality, especially when used for purposes of acc5mp™n? e Vby 
comparison, is not complete unless accompanied by in- other informa- 
formation as to the hours of labor, regulations as to 
extra earnings, division of earnings among underhands, 
and other methods peculiar to the period or locality. 
Information as to cost of living and prices of commodi- 
ties should also be considered, since it is not the amount 
of money wages that most nearly concerns the workman, 
but the amount of subsistence obtainable at a given 
period for a given expenditure. This chapter, how- 
ever, is confined chiefly to a presentation of wages, 
prices being incidentally treated. The rates selected are 
either actual wages or the average for a number of es- 
tablishments in different localities, and it is believed they 
fairly represent the wages for the different classes ol 
labor. While the rate of wages for the same class of 
employees in different establishments within a given 
district may vary, the tendency is to equality. 

In giving wages and prices for the past one hundred statements 
years, especially for the first half of the century, re- Easfernand 
course has been chiefly to Eastern and Middle State Middle states - 
conditions. This has been necessitated by the lack of 
data for other portions of the country, but it is believed 
that the facts given are fairly representative relatively of 

* The graphic cards in this chapter illustrate the course of wages in various 
industries from 1840 to 1890. 

215 



216 bidustrial Evolution of the United States. 

variations in all manufacturing districts of the country- 
taken as a whole, notwithstanding the great variations 
occurring between one part of the country and another. 

At the beginning of the constitutional period, as stated 
in the chapter on wages in colonial days, not much 
change had been experienced in the rates of wages paid 
in different trades, but between 1790 and 1830, when the 
factory system was in fair and general operation and 
labor of every character commanded higher wages, it 
Wages in 1790, being in greater demand, there was a fair advance, car- 

1810, 1830, 1840, & . , . .111^ t 

i860. penters in 1790 being paid less than 60 cents a day ; in 

1800 something over 70 cents; in 1810, $1.09 on the 
average ; in 1820, $1. 13 ; in 1830, about $1.13, reach- 
ing, however, in the northern parts of our country an 
average of $1.40 a day during the period from 1830 to 
1840. After this there was not much change for carpen- 
ters until i860. Taking laborers, on the other hand, as 
fairly representative of general conditions, it is found that 
they were paid, in 1790, about 43 cents a day, on the 
average ; in 1800, 62^ cents a day ; from 1800 to 18 10, 
about 82 cents a day ; from 18 10 to 1820, something 
over 90 cents a day, while from 1 840 to 1 860 they varied 
from 87 x /z cents to $1 a day. Printers were receiving, 
at the beginning of the century, about $1.00 a day, and 
their wages had increased to $1.75 by i860. Shoe- 
makers were paid 73^ cents a day, on the average, dur- 
ing the decennial period 1790 to 1800, while they aver- 
aged from 1820 to 1830 $1.06 a day, reaching $1.70 in 
i860. Looking to cotton-mill operatives, whose wages 

operatives. 1 are not quoted much prior to 1820, we find that they 
were paid 44 cents a day, on the average, between 1820 
and 1830, nearly 90 cents a day from 1830 to 1840. 
This wage held, with slight increase, to 1850, while dur- 
ing the next decade of years their average pay was $1.03 



Labor and Rates of Wages, 17 90-1890. 217 



a day. Woolen-mill operatives did somewhat better, 
being paid in the earlier part of the factory period, that 
is, the decade of years prior to 1830, $1.12 ; they rarely 
reached this high wage again before 1880. 

The record of wages after 1830 is far more complete, wages after 
and the course of their rise or fall can be more clearly l83 °' 
stated. In 1831 daily wages for agricultural laborers 
ranged from 57.5 cents to $1.00; blacksmiths received 
from $1.00 to $1.25 per day. The daily average for 
carpenters was $1.07, but ranged as high as $1.50, while 
masons received $1.26. Since 1873 wages in these 
staple occupations had more than doubled, but the seg- 
regation of mechanics and labor of all kinds into classes 
had made rapid progress, and an average wage for such 
a broad grouping- conveys no idea of the rates of wages 
for the different classes. The average daily wages for 
paper-mill operatives in 1831 was 66.6 cents, printers 
$1.25, shoemakers $1.06, cotton-mill operatives 88.6 
cents, woolen-mill operatives 94.6 cents, glassmakers 
$1.13, and millwrights $1.21. 

During the thirty years from 1830 to i860 two violent From ^ 
commercial convulsions occurred, one in 1837 and one to i860, 
in 1857. Excess- 
ive importations, 
speculation, and 
the abuse of the 
credit system 
were the princi- 
pal causes of both 
these business de- 
pressions ; both 
had the effect of 

temporarily reducing wages in certain industries. Wages 
had not fully recovered from the panic of 1857 by i860, 



CITY PUBLIC WORKS. 



PERCENTAGE 



1854 
I860 
1870 
I860 
1890 



20 40 60 



100 120 140 160 



218 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Increase in 
wages. 



Average for 

leading 

industries. 



COTTON GOODS. 

PER CENTAGE, 


1840 
1850 
I860 
(870 
1880 
1890 


2 


4 


6 


0- 8 


100 120 140 1 


50 





















































The averages for the decade ending that year, however, 
show a decided advance over 1830. An average for the 
ten years ending with i860 gives agricultural laborers 
$1.01 per day, blacksmiths $1.69, carpenters $2.03, and 
masons $1.53; paper-mill operatives received $1.17, 
printers $1.75, shoemakers $1.70, cotton-mill operatives 
$1.03, woolen- 
mill operatives 
87.3 cents, 
glassmakers 
$2.96, and 
millwrights 
$1.66. The 
wages in all of 
these occu- 
pations, with 
the exception of woolen-mill operatives, show an advance 
over 1830. The percentage of increase ranges from 
16.3 for cotton-mill operatives to 16 1.9 for glassmakers. 
On making a similar comparison of wages for twenty 
different occupations, it is found that but one shows an 
increase in average daily wages. 

Without considering the effect that the war, the fluc- 
tuation in currency, or the financial crisis of 1873 may 
have had on wages during the twenty years from i860 
to 1880, we will compare the averages for i860 with sim- 
ilar averages for 1880. Agricultural laborers in 1880 
received $1.31 per day, blacksmiths $2.28, carpenters 
$2.42, masons $2.79, paper-mill operatives $2.79, print- 
ers $2.18, shoemakers $1.76, cotton-mill operatives 
$1.40, woolen-mill operatives $1.24, and glassmakers 
$1.79. These average wages for leading industries in- 
dicate the general increase in wages in all occupations 
during the fifty years from 1830 to 1880, But a general 



Labor and Rates of Wages, iygo-i8go. 219 



average wage for operatives in cotton, woolen, or any 

other branch of industry in which there are numerous General 

J averages 

classes of employees, each class being graded and re- unsatisfactory, 
ceiving pay in proportion to the importance in the gen- 
eral result and the degree of skill and care required of 
the operative, does 
not convey a satis- 
factory idea of the 
actual wages. For 
instance, the daily 
wages of overseers 
in the carding de- 
partment of a repre- 
sentative cotton factory in Massachusetts ranged from 
$2.00, with thirteen hours of labor, in 1842 to $5.00, 
with ten hours of labor, in 1891. The pay for overseers 
in the weaving department of the same establishment 
advanced from $1.75 in 1843 to $5. 00 in 1891. Con- 
sidering the 



AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 




PERCENTAGE. 








2 4 60 80 100 120 140 


I860 












1870 
1880 












1890 











BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS 

PERCENTAGE. 



1842 
1850 
I860 
1870 
1880 
1890 



lower class of 
lab or in the 
same factory, we 
find that the 
average daily 
wages of pick- 
ers and section- 
hands increased 
from 71.5 and 



69.5 cents, respectively, in 1842 to $1.03 and $1.64 in 
1 89 1, while the hours of work decreased from thirteen 
to ten. 

Carrying this comparison of actual wages for distinct Representa . 
classes into the building trades, a representative estab- Jjj^ tablish " 
lishment in New York reports the pay for carpenters 



22o Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Increase in 
wages of special 
classes. 



Wages taken 
from pay-rolls. 




in 1843 as $1.50 per day, and in 1891 $3.50, with the 
hours of work reduced from ten to eight. The pay of 
bricklayers and their helpers increased from $1.75 and 

$1.00, respec- 
tively, in 1 85 1 to 
$4.00 and $2.50, 
respectively, in 
1 89 1, with a de- 
crease of two hours 
in working time. 
The daily wages of 
draughtsmen and 
foremen blacksmiths, two widely separated yet depend- 
ent classes of labor, as reported by an establishment 
engaged in manufacturing metals and metallic goods in 
New York, increased from $1.75 and $2.50, respec- 
tively, in 1848 to $5.31 and $5.83 in 1891. Making 
a similar comparison for an entirely different class 
of wage- earners, that 
of railroad employees, 
we find the pay of 
locomotive engineers 
and firemen increas- 
ing from $2.14 and 
$1.06 in 1 840 to $3.77 
and $1.96, respec- 
tively, in 1 89 1 ; dur- 
ing the same period the pay of passenger car conductors 
increased from $2. 1 1 to $3.84. 

The wages just given are taken from the pay-rolls of 
representative establishments and indicate the increase 
in the actual wages for given occupations, but considered 
by themselves they convey a wrong impression of the 
average wages. While the pay of overseers in the 



METALS 6c METALLIC GOODS. 

PERCENTAGE. 


1840 
1850 
I860 
1870 
1880 
1690 


20 40 60 80 100 120 140 





























































Labor and Rates of Wages, 1790-1890. 221 




carding and weaving departmant of a cotton factory 
ranged as high as $5.00 per day in 1891, we find by the 
examination of sixty-four cotton and woolen factories, 
scattered throughout twenty states and employing 31,- 
657 hands, that 
21,338 employ- 
ees, or 67 per 
cent of the total, 
received between 
41 cents and 
$1.20 per day, 
while only 24 em- 
ployees received $5.00 or more per day. The average 
daily wages for the industry, then, is nearer $1.00 than 
$5.00. For the same reason, the daily wages in the 
manufacture of iron and steel is between $1.00 and 
$2.00, although the rates ranged from 41 cents to 
$19.40 per day. Grouping a number of representative 
establishments of the principal manufacturing industries 
which employed a total of 59,784 hands, it is found that 

20,969, or 35 per 
cent of the em- 
ployees, received 
from $ 1 . 00 to $ 1 . 60 
per day. There- 
fore, the average 
daily wages for all 
classes of mechan- 
ics and operatives 
in factories may be considered as having been between 
$1.00 and $2.00, although the proportionate number re- 
ceiving more than $2.00 per day was somewhat larger 
than the proportion receiving less than $1.00 per day. 
Considering the wages for the great mass of wage- 



WOOLEN GOODS. 

PERCtNTAGE. 


1850 
I860 
1870 


20 4 


60 80 1 


30 1 


>0 140 l 























I860 
1890 





















Average wages 
in sixty-four 
factories. 



Average for 
all classes. 



222 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Range from 
1633 to 1891. 



Advance in 

numerous 

occupations. 



RAILROADS. 

PERCENTAGE 



100 120 140 J60 



1840 
1850 

I860 
1870 
1880 
1890 



====1 



earners, the common and agricultural laborers, during 
the entire period since 1633, the daily wages for the best 
laborers advanced from 25 cents to 33.3 cents imme- 
diately before the Revolution, to 42.5 cents immedi- 
ately after, and 
during June of 
1 89 1 the wages of 
common laborers 
ranged from $2.50 
in Montana to 75 
cents in the Caro- 
linas and $1.25 in 
New York. Farm 
laborers received, during June, 1891, from $30 to $40 
per month, with board and lodging, in Montana and 
California, to $9 and $10 in the Carolinas and Virginia, 
and $15 to $20 in New York. Masons (master work- 
men) received 33.3 cents per day in 1633 and $1.00 in 
1790, while during the busy season of 1891 their wages 
ranged from $4.50 to $5.00 in California and Colorado, 
$2.50 in North Carolina, and $2.50 and $3.36 in Penn- 
sylvania and New 



York. 

The wages 
paid in numerous 
occupations can 
be compared, and 
in each instance 
the 



BUILDING TRADES, 



PERCENTAG-E 



1840 
I8£Q 
I860 
1870 
1880 
1890 



same, or a 
similar, advance is shown. 



The three classes given, 
however, are sufficient with data given in Chapter IX. , 
to convey an idea of the great increase in the money 
wages of all classes of workmen during the two hundred 
and fifty-eight years. While the number actually em- 



Labor and Rates of Wages, 1790-1890. 223 



general. 



ployed increases or diminishes with business prosperity 
or depression, their employment or idleness appears to 
have had but little effect on the rate of pay. Wages 
during almost the entire period have had an upward 
tendency, decreases being the exception and generally 
only of temporary duration. 

Turning from the specific wages paid in some of the 
leading occupations, it is interesting to study the relative increase in 
percentage of increase of wages in general. This can 
be done by assuming that at a certain period wages can 
be represented by 100, or par, and then calculating the 
increase or decrease from par in accordance with the 
facts. * Whatever wages were in i860, they are quoted 
at 100. Starting from this basic point, it has been 
found that, taking the wages (which were taken from 
actual pay-rolls) in twenty-two industries and from 
nearly one hundred distinct establishments, and making 
a simple average, the percentages stood at 87.7 in 1840, 
as compared with 100 in i860 ; that in 1866 they stood 
at 152.4, and in 
1891 at 160.7. 
But it might be 
objected that a 
simple average 
does not indicate 
the general per- 
centage of in- 
crease or de- 
the 



ALL INDUSTRIES 

PERCE NTAOE. 



1840 
1850 

I860 
1870 
1880 
1890 



20' 40 60 



100 120 140 160 



All industries 
combined. 



crease ; so 

figures have been averaged according to their importance, 
each industry relative to all industries, as represented by 
the number employed in each. On this basis, taking 1 860 

* This method was adopted by the Senate Committee on Finance in its re- 
port on "Wholesale Prices and Wages," being Senate Report No. 1394, Fifty- 
second Congress, second session. 



224 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



as represented by 100 again, it is found that the general 
average of wages in 1840 is represented by 82.5, in 1866 
by 155.6, and in 1891 by 168.6 ; that is to say, on this 
basis wages have increased since i860, as is shown by 
percentages, to the extent of 68.6 per cent ; and this 
figure shows the course of wages in this country since 
that year. On the basis of 100 in i860, the increase has 
been from 82.5 in 1840 to 168.6 in 1891, the close of 
the period discussed. 

It is difficult always to make a statement concerning 
the course of prices for any considerable period of time 

that will be 
satisfactory to 
all students. 
The actual 
price of dif- 
ferent articles 
does not alone 
indicate such 
be- 



CARRIAGES & WAGONS. 

PERCENTAGE, 


1840 
1850 
I860 
1870 
1880 
1890 


20 40 6 


80 1 


)0 1 


20 1 




SO 1 


JO 2 


DO 


































■Mi 


1 1 


■ 











course 



cause one article enters into the consumption of the 
people in slight degree, the price of such article hav- 
ing a wide range, while another article, entering largely 
into consumption, may be represented by a price quite 
steady ; so there is always contention as to whether the 
price represented by the basis of consumption or the 
degree of consumption of each group of articles has 
risen or fallen. 

In the Sixteenth Annual Report of the Massachusetts 
Bureau of Statistics of Labor there are very extensive 
quotations of the prices of commodities covering the 
period from 1752 to 1883 and general comparisons from 
1830 to i860. Without going into the details of these 
comparisons, it appears that from 1830 to i860 agricul- 



Labor and Rates of Wages, iygo-iSgo. 225 



tural products advanced in price 62.8 per cent ; burning 
oils and fluids, 29 per cent ; candles and soap, 42.6 per 
cent ; dairy products, 38.8 per cent; fish, 9.8 per cent ; 
flour and meal, 26 per cent ; fuel, meaning by this wood 
only, 55.4 per cent; meats, which included turkey in 
this particular comparison, 53 per cent. On the other 
hand, prices declined for boots and shoes 38.9 per cent ; 
clothing and dress goods, 24. 7 per cent ; dry goods, 30. 9 
per cent ; food preparations, 17.5 per cent ; letter paper, 
35. 1 per cent ; spices and condiments, 36.5 per cent. 

By a consolidation of the percentages showing either Decline in 
an advance or decline in prices for the fourteen classes pnces - 
of articles just cited, the general percentage of increase 
in prices is found to be 9.6 per cent. If, on the other 
hand, the averages for the same classes of articles be 
considered, and not the percentages obtained for each 
class, it is found that the general average increase in 
prices was 15.7 per cent. The mean of these two per- 
centages is 12.7, and this more probably indicates the 
correct position of the fourteen classes of articles just 
named in their general tendency between 1830 and i860. 

If, however, wages for the same period, as given for 
the various occupations named in the report cited above, 
be consolidated and averaged, the general average in- 
crease shown for the period ending with i860, as com- 
pared with that ending with 1830, is 52.3 per cent. 
These facts clearly indicate that for that thirty years 
wages advanced to a much greater degree than prices. 

It is fortunate that the public can now have recourse 
to the report of the Senate Committee on Finance, prices, 1840 to 
which has been referred to. Wholesale prices are given l89 °" 
in this report for 223 leading articles of consumption 
from 1840 to 1890, and taking the prices of these articles 
as a whole, and considering them on the same basis as 



226 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



ALL ARTICLES 
AVERAGED ACCORDING TO IMPORTANCE, 
CERTAIN EXPENDITURES BEING CONSIDERED 
UNIFORM. 



PERCENTAGE. 



that on which wages were considered, that is, assuming 
the quotations for i860 to be 100, or par, it is found 
that the percentages are, for 1840, 97.7 per cent rela- 
tively to 100 in i860, 187.7 f° r 1866, and 94.4 for 1891 ; 
or, in other words, prices generally, so far as the 223 
leading articles are concerned, fell from 100 in i860 to 
94.4 in 1891. 

Placing wages and prices in juxtaposition in a general 

comparison, it is 
found that wages, 
considered rela- 
tively to the im- 
portance of one 
industry to all in- 
dustries, stood at 
168.6 in 1891 
relatively to 100 
in i860, and that 
the prices of 223 
commodities en- 
tering into con- 
sumption, on the 
basis of the importance of each article in proportion to 
the importance of all, fell from 100 in i860 to 94.4 in 
1 89 1. The conclusion, therefore, must be positive and 
absolute that, while the percentage of increase in prices 
rose in 1866 to a point far beyond the increase in wages, 
prices had, by 1891, fallen to a point lower, on the 
whole, than they were in 1840, and wages had risen 
even above the high point they reached in 1866. 

It should be stated that in these percentages the 
prices of rents have not been considered. Rents have 
increased greatly, but taking the rise in rents into con- 
sideration, as well as the rise in food products and some 




Labor and Rates of Wages, IJQ0-1890. 227 



other things, and drawing a general conclusion relative 
to real wages, the statements just made must hold as 
practically and generally established. 

These few illustrations — and they are all that can be 
given comprehensively in this work — show quite clearly 
the real wages as against the nominal wages of the work- 
ing people, and they lead to the statement that when- 
ever prices of commodities rise they rise higher, rela- 
tively, than does the price of labor, and that when prices 



ALL ARTICLES 
AVERAGED ACCORDING TO IMPORTANCE, 

PERCENTAGE. 



1840 
1850 
I860 
1870 
1880 
1890 



1 






— — 




k-T'" 


























a 




^^^^ 



1 1 . — 



III! 



CERTAIN EXPENDITURES BEING CONSlOERED UNIFORM 
COMPRISING 68.60 PERCENT OF TOTAL EXPENDITURE 



All articles 
averaged. 



go down they go down much lower, relatively, than does 
the price of labor, which remains ordinarily very nearly 
at its inflated price ; for, as a matter of fact, the wages of Comparison 

, 1 1 • 1 1 • • with inflated 

1890 and 1 89 1 were very nearly as nign, and m many in- prices, 
stances quite as high, as they were in the inflated period 
from i860 to 1870. This statement is further illustrated 
by the fact that a carpenter receiving $3.50 per day in 



228 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



1866, in the inflated currency of that year, received the 
Currency and same face pay, that is, $3.50, in 1891, on a gold basis ; 

so, too, in prices one could buy, in 1840, calico at 12 
cents a yard, while in 1866 the same goods, in the in- 
flated currency of that year, sold for 21 cents a yard, 
and in 1891 they could be bought for 6 cents a yard, on 
a gold basis. It has not been worth while, therefore, 
in any of the comparisons which have been given in this 
chapter to reduce values to a gold basis. 



PART III. 
THE LABOR MOVEMENT. 



} 



PART III— THE LABOR MOVEMENT. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE INCEPTION OF THE LABOR MOVEMENT. 

In this part the story of what is commonly called _ , 

1 , J Labor's 

" the labor movement " is told. This movement com- attempts to 

secure its 

prehends the attempts of labor to secure its demands and demands, 
its efforts at organization, labor legislation, strikes, lock- 
outs, and boycotts. The labor question has been present 
always in the development of the world. In ancient times 
there were guilds, societies, and various organizations for 
one purpose or another ; but since industry has become 
organized and the factory system a fixture the labor move- 
ment has assumed entirely new features, and its propor- 
tions cover a vast range of questions involving economics 
and ethics. The labor movement is the labor question, 
and the labor question, concretely stated, is the effort of 

, 1 • 1 i 1 r 1 • • t Labor question 

wage-workers to secure a higher standard of living. It defined, 
is their struggle upward. How to secure the ends for 
which the struggle is instituted is probably the great 
question of the day. Contemporaneous with the de- 
velopment of the industries of the United States the 
movement referred to has taken place, and the speed of 
the movement has been accelerated as the development 
has grown. The industrial evolution of the United 
States, therefore, involves the labor movement in its en- 
tirety, and the account of its various features and of the 
complications resulting from the continued struggle be- 
comes legitimate in any account of the evolution. 

231 



232 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Prior to the establishment of the factory system there 
Little organi- wa s little organization. The southern colonies, having 

zation prior to m . 

factory system, the slave system for the prosecution of their industries, 
did not offer any fertile field for the wage-worker to agi- 
tate the questions which interested him. The northern 
colonies, while having a different system of labor, offered 
but little field for such agitations, because industry was 
primitive in its nature, land was plenty, laborers were in 
demand, and habits and wants were simple ; and yet the 
labor movement of the country, in the broadest sense, 
had its birth in both Virginia and Plymouth, for the two 
represented antagonistic systems of labor, the results be- 
ing of vast importance to the welfare of the country, the 
antagonism culminating in 1861 in the great Civil War. 

The two systems of labor had their effect in various 
directions, both in the economics of production and in 
the relation of the laborer to society. The comparison of 
free with slave labor has been treated in its appropriate 
chapter, but the very conditions of slave labor prevented 
organization, and so no traces of any labor movement 
prior to the Civil War can be found in the South. Free 
labor, however, offered opportunities for movements in 
various directions, and yet, on account of the conditions 
already cited, history does not reveal any concerted 
action of any consequence during the colonial period, 
except, it may be, in the. early days in Massachusetts, 
when the ship calkers, who were politicians, organized 
what was known as the "Calkers' Club," the purpose of 

stnp calkers. . wn i cn was < < to j a y pj ans f or introducing certain persons 

into places of trust and power. ' ' Samuel Adams' s father, 
at a date as early as 1724, took an active part in this 
club, and it is from its name, it is said, that the term 
" caucus " was derived. But the elements of organiza- 
tion were wanting, for such organization comes through 



The Inception of the Labor Movement. 



233 



the aggregation of laborers in industrial centers. As- 
sociation is the life principle of industry as well as of all 
efforts at progress, and so in all probability there were 
societies of tradesmen of different classes having various 
motives in forming their associations. The domestic 
system of labor, which kept workers in individual work- 
shops and in their homes, stood in the way of extensive 
organization ; thus it was not until the opening of the 
present century that labor unions began to have any in- 
fluence in the shaping of affairs. They, however, exer- 
cised but little influence until after the first quarter of the 
century had passed. 

The tailors, who have always been active participants 
in political matters, established a trades union as far back Tailors* unions, 
as 1806. This association probably grew from the in- 
fluence exerted by members of the craft coming from 
England, who preserved their loyalty to the Journeymen 
Tailors' Unions of the old country. There were like 
organizations of hatters in 18 19, and the shipwrights and H atters. 
calkers established their order in 1822, under the name 
of the "Columbian Charitable Society of Shipwrights 
and Calkers of Boston and Charlestown," and in 1823 
the legislature of Massachusetts granted the society a 
charter. April 3, 1803, there was incorporated in the 
city of New York an association called the ' ' New York 
Society of Journeymen Shipwrights," while another so- shipwrights, 
ciety was created in 1806, known as the "House Carpen- House 

J t ' r carpenters. 

ters of the City of New York." The compositors of the 

latter city were also probably organized in the early 

years of the present century, for history shows that 

Thurlow Weed was elected a member as early as 18 17. 

Their society was known as the ' ' New York Typographi- Compositors. 

cal Society," Peter Force being its president. Curiously 

enough, although Mr. Weed's residence in Albany 



234 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



enabled him to secure the incorporation of the society, 
there was a strike in Mr. Weed's office in 1821, which 
grew out of the fact that one of his compositors was a 
* 1 rat, ' ' that is, a non-union man. 

With the year 1825 new elements and purposes ap- 
peared, and the way was opened for the development of 
the labor movement. It would be difficult to assign 
any single ruling cause for the new spirit which arose 
after that year, yet many reasons may be assigned for 
it. The demand for less hours of labor and for higher 
wages and experiments in cooperation may have had 
much to do with the inauguration of the movement. 
The spirit of association was rapidly developed through 
the influence of the altruistic preachings of Robert 
Owen, who came to this country in 1824. Owen had 
established one of the most prominent experiments in 
the Old World for the amelioration of bad conditions 
in labor communities. This was at New Lanark in 
Scotland. His chief experience there was in the year 
181 9, but he carried his experiments to such a success 
that he gained respect and renown everywhere. 

The main cause of his success began with the practical 
improvement of the working people under his superintend- 
ence as manager and afterward as owner of the cotton- 
mills at New Lanark. He found himself surrounded 
by squalor and poverty, intemperance and crime. He 
erected healthy dwellings with adjacent gardens, and let 
them at cost price to his people. He built stores where 
goods of proper quality might be purchased at whole- 
sale prices, and so aided in removing the pernicious 
effects of what is known as the "truck system." He 
established the first infant school in Great Britain, and he 
excluded all under ten years from his workshops and 
made the physical and moral training of the young his 



The Inception of the Labor Movement. 235 

special care. He adopted measures to put down drunk- 
enness and to encourage the savings of the people. As ^opTedby 
a natural consequence, the employees became attached 0vven - 
to their employer, taking a personal interest in the suc- 
cess of the business, and laboring ably and conscien- 
tiously to make the mills of New Lanark a great finan- 
cial success. An American traveler, Mr. Griscom, 
visited Owen's mills in 18 19, and in making a report 
upon them used the following language : 

There is not, I apprehend, to be found in any part of the 
world a manufacturing village in which so much order, good 
government, tranquillity, and rational happiness prevail. It af- 
fords an eminent and instructive example of the good that may 
be effected by well-directed efforts to promote the real com- 
fort, and, I may add, the morality of the laboring classes. 

And Kaufmann, in his work on socialism, speaks of 
New Lanark as one of the romantic valleys of the Clyde 
which have been invested with the charm of poetry by 
Sir Walter Scott, and as having also been rendered the 
scene of an earthly paradise, from a social point of view, 
by Robert Owen. It is not strange, therefore, that 
when Owen came to America in 1824 his fame came Owenjsfame 
with him and the laborers caught a new spirit and a new coming, 
enthusiasm in relation to their surroundings. He re- 
ceived great attention from the American people, and it 
is probable that he laid the basis for the rapid extension 
of Fourierism over the whole country, probably more 
than two hundred communistic villages having been 
founded in the United States as the result of the doc- 
trines taught by Charles Fourier.* Some of these vil- 
lages still exist, but their prosperity, such as came to 
them, was due largely to the fact that they traded with 
the world and the world was not communistic. It is not 



* For an account of these communities see " History of American So- 
cialisms," by John Humphrey Noyes. 



236 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



necessary here to discuss their peculiarities and charac- 
teristics, but it is well, perhaps, to remark that Horace 
Greeley, Albert Brisbane, Charles A. Dana, and others 
equally well known, were interested in the movement 
and helped to establish some of the most celebrated 
Fourieristic societies, the most notable of which was 
that at Brook Farm, in Massachusetts. Most of these 
attempts died after a few years of feverish existence, 
and yet they had an immense influence, extending over 
twenty or thirty years, in calling attention to socialistic 
and even communistic attempts. 

The period from 1825 to 1850 may well be called the 
period of reform movements, many of them having but 
brief existence, others being firmly established in the 
minds of the people and extending in their influence be- 
yond the associations which promulgated reform doc- 
trines, and which are, many of them, felt even at the 
present day and will be felt for generations to come. 

Another reason, perhaps, for the concentration of ef- 
fort by working people is found in the rapidly develop- 
ing factory system, the very essence of which is the 
principle of association. The concentration of popu- 
lation in industrial centers, as already remarked, fostered 
organization. These, and it may be other reasons, suf- 
ficiently account for the extension of the labor move- 
ment after the year 1825. Certain it is that unions 
began to be formed everywhere in the Northern States 
and the agitation for legislation for workingmen specifi- 
cally carried on. Boston and New York were the 
most prominent localities in these movements. Labor 
literature began to appear as the result, and as early as 
1825 the Working Man' s Advocate was published in 
New York City. Dr. Richard T. Ely, in his excel- 
lent work on "The Labor Movement in America," 



The Inception of the Labor Movement. 237 



thinks it probable that this was the first appearance of a 
representative labor press in the United States. This 
publication was followed by the Daily Sentinel and ^Evans" 8 ° f 
Young America, all published by two Englishmen, brothers- 
George Henry Evans and Frederick W. Evans, who 
came to this country in 1820. The former was a land 
reformer. More than six hundred papers in the country 
indorsed the demands which these men made through 
their papers. These demands comprehended the right 
of man to the soil, the breaking up of monopolies, the 
freedom of public lands, the inalienability of homesteads, 
and called for the abolition of all laws for the collection 
of debts and for the adoption of a general bankrupt law. 
They also demanded a lien for the laborer upon his own 
work for his wages, the abolition of imprisonment for 
debt, equal rights for women with men in all respects, 
and the abolition of chattel slavery and of wages slavery. 

From Thurlow Weed's autobiography it is learned 
that a " Workingman's Convention" was held at Syra- 
cuse, in the state of New York, in 1830, at which 
Ezekiel Williams was nominated for governor. In the 
election which followed less than three thousand votes, 
however, were cast for Mr. Williams, but the next year 
the movers, under the name of the " Workingmen's 
Party, ' ' united with the Whigs and succeeded in elect- 
ing three or four members of the legislature. It was 
from this movement that the Loco-Foco party originated. 

A great convention was held in Boston on the 16th of 

■»— > « . • r r , 1 Boston conven- 

rebruary, 1831, consisting of farmers, mechanics, and tionofi83i. 
other workingmen. * From this grew a delegate con- 
vention which was held in the subsequent year, on the 
6th of September, in Boston. Many of the men after- 



* See First Annual Report of Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 
1870. 



238 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Various points 
considered by 
the convention. 



Similar meet- 
ings and their 
discussions. 



ward prominent in politics and in business were members 
of this convention. It discussed landed interests, taxa- 
tion, and cooperative trading. Ten points were con- 
sidered by it. These were the organization of a central 
committee for each state ; the institutions of lyceums or 
institutes ; reform in the militia system ; the expediency 
of calling a national convention of workingmen ; the ten- 
hour system ; the effect of banking institutions and other 
monopolies upon the condition of the laboring classes ; 
the improvement of the system of education, includ- 
ing the recommendation of such legislative enactments 
in relation to the internal economies of factories as would 
insure to the operatives a competent degree of instruc- 
tion ; the abolition of imprisonment for debt ; the adop- 
tion of a national bankrupt law ; the extension of the 
right of suffrage, and lien laws. These points were 
similar in many respects to the demands already referred 
to as announced by the Evans brothers. The Hon. 
Edward Everett commended the organization of the 
Workingmen' s party in a lecture which he delivered be- 
fore the Charlestown Lyceum in Massachusetts. Other 
meetings were held in the city of Boston, at which it was 
recommended that the mechanics of all branches should 
hold meetings by themselves for the purpose of consult- 
ing together and of doing all possible to come to a 
mutual agreement upon the system of working hours. 
At various meetings and by various conventions ques- 
tions which to-day are being discussed by labor organ- 
izations were carefully considered, the relation of em- 
ployers to employees, the question of whether the ten- 
hour system is a benefit, and such matters, being the 
prominent subjects of consideration. The right of la- 
borers to organize for the purpose of securing and pro- 
tecting their interests and the question as to whether a 



The Inception of the Labor Movement. 



239 



general trades union would diminish strikes and lock- 
outs were also prominent in the discussions. Following 
the meetings of 1831 and 1832 in Boston, " The General 
Trades Unions of the City of New York" were active £ en <; ral TT . 

J Trades Unions 

in discussing the questions cited. This is the first at- of New York - 
tempt, so far as any accounts go to establish the fact, to 
unite workingmen of different trades in one organization. 
In later years this has been the rule. 

The movement during the succeeding years took vari- Action of 
ous forms, the employers taking 1 a part in the matter merchants and 

\ J or ship-owners. 

from their point of view. The merchants and ship-owners 
of Boston, at a meeting held in the Exchange Coffee 
Rooms on the 15th of May, 1832, voted to "discounte- 
nance and check the unlawful combination formed to 
control the freedom of individuals as to the hours of 
labor, and to thwart and embarrass those by whom they 
are employed and liberally paid." The report of this 
meeting also sets forth ' ' the pernicious and demoralizing 
tendency of these combinations, and the unreasonable- 
ness of the attempt, in particular where mechanics are 
held in so high estimation and their skill in labor so 
liberally rewarded. ' ' The members of that meeting held 
that labor ought always to be left free to regulate itself, Their views as 
and that neither the employee nor the employer should 
have the power to control the other ; and they looked 
with deep regret upon the course pursued by their fel- 
low-citizens, the journeymen, in the adoption and main- 
tenance of a system of measures designed to coerce indi- 
viduals of their craft and to prescribe the time and man- 
ner of their labor. The employers claimed that labor 
organization would drive the trade from the city, and in 
their conclusions they resolved : ' ' We will neither employ 
any journeyman who at the time belongs to such combi- 
nations, nor will we give work to any master mechanic 



240 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



who shall employ them while they continue thus pledged 
to each other and refuse to work the hours which it has 
been and is now customary for mechanics to work. ' ' 
The resolutions were signed by the representatives of 
one hundred and six firms. 

The movement for ten hours was a failure, so far as 
success at the time it was originated was concerned, but 
it is probably true that it resulted in increasing the mem- 
bership of organizations and in intensifying the agitation. 
The men were not destitute of influential friends, how- 
ever. In Massachusetts such men as William Ellery 
Channing, Robert Rantoul, Horace Mann, and James 
G. Carter, advocated their claims. Education, and all 
that education means, was preached as the surest method 
of reaching the aims of the labor organizations. It was 
the whole burden of Channing' s lectures on self-culture 
and the laboring classes. He had great confidence in 
them, believed in their wisdom and integrity, and that 
they were perfectly competent to so develop their mental 
and moral powers as to enable them to meet the great 
questions of the time. 

But the story of labor organization, its course, its suc- 
cesses, its failures, the philosophy underlying it, the in- 
fluence it has exerted in many directions, would fill 
volumes in itself. It is sufficient here to say that, no 
matter what the opposition of any particular period was 
or the character it assumed, no matter what antagonisms 
within disturbed their order, no matter how defections 
reduced their ranks at times and jealousies prevented 
their immediate success, labor organizations from 1825 
continued through success and failure, their propaganda 
extending first to all great cities and ultimately to all 
parts of the land. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 

The history of organizations constitutes an integral 
part of the history of the country, and their growth to organized labor 
the present time an influential feature of industrial de- trial history?" 
velopment. Their relation to strikes, their advocacy of 
all educational methods, their conservative action at 
times offset the radicalism which has at the same time led 
them into injudicious action. Through the years be- 
tween 1825 and the present time their history is a pro- 
gressive one, and its details would bring into prominence 
almost every industry in the country. Out of them 
there have grown some great associations or organiza- 
tions, developing power and bringing to the attention of 
the country conditions which need reforming and rela- 
tions which call for the highest ethical influence to secure 
proper adjustment.* 

In this progress events in Europe have had more or contributing 
less influence, those of 1848 in France contributing a^Son. 
largely to the renewal of the agitation of American so- 
cialism and labor reform. The exodus from Ireland 
following the famine and increasing the volume of immi- 
gration to the United States contributed to the agitation. 
The pressure in our own country also helped the move- 
ment. One of the chief and most annoying questions 

* For an excellent account of special organizations and details of their 
growth, demands, and doctrines, see "The Labor Movement: The Problem 
of To-Day," edited by George E. McNeill : Boston, 1887 ; " The Story of Man- 
ual Labor," by John Cameron Simonds : Chicago, 1886; "Thirty Years of 
Labor," by T. V. Powderly : Columbus, O. ; "The Labor Movement in 
America," by Richard T. Ely, Ph.D. : New York, 1886. 

241 



242 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



was that of the hours of labor. They were excessively 
Long hours of long. Twelve, thirteen, and fourteen hours a day were 

labor cause of J 

discussion. n ot uncommon in textile factories and in some other 
lines, and at times even sixteen hours constituted a nor- 
mal working day. The wage-earners protested against 
this, and the protests were made at an early day, so 
early that the agitation for ten hours can be said to be 
contemporaneous with the beginning of the labor move- 
ment. It now constitutes an important element in labor 
agitations, notwithstanding that in many places the pur- 
pose of organization in this respect has been accom- 
plished. When the agitation was strong and yet an 
issue undecided, one of the presidents of the United 
States, Mr. Van Buren, issued a proclamation or a 
President Van general order, April 10, 1840, introducing the ten-hour 
mation! proda " system into the navy yard at Washington, D. C, and 
in "all public establishments." The ten-hour day had 
received sanction in the city of Baltimore some time 
before President Van Buren interceded. The laborers 
in that city proclaimed to the world that ten hours 
should constitute a day's labor. They won in the 
conflict, and ever since ten hours a day has been the rule 
in that city. In 1845 the agitation was stimulated in 
Massachusetts throughout the textile industry, but it was 
agSatfonin not until 1 874 that a law was passed making ten hours 
Massachusetts. ^ e normal day in that state for women and children. 

William Claflin, one of the governors of the state, later 
on openly advocated the ten-hour system. To-day that 
. system prevails almost everywhere in the country, and in 
some states law has established, under certain conditions, 
even a shorter day. This will be referred to more fully 
under ' ' Labor Legislation. ' ' 

This account of labor organizations, general and brief 
as it has been necessarily, should not be closed without 



Labor Organizations. 



243 



mention of the leading unions now in existence and exert- 
ing an influence in the affairs of the country. One of the 
most important of these is the International Typograph- 
ical Union. Nearly every state and territory is now repre- 
sented at its annual sessions. This union has had many 
distinguished friends, notably the late George W. Childs, 
of The Public Ledger, of Philadelphia ; Mr. Anthony 
J. Drexel, one of the great bankers of that city; 
and others who have passed away, and many prominent 
men, statesmen, and business men still living. So far 
as the writer can ascertain, this union traces its origin to 
1850, when a "National Convention of Journeymen 
Printers ' ' met in New York. The next year a meeting 
was held in Baltimore, but a permanent organization was 
not effected until 1852, when delegates met in Cincinnati. 
The title ' ' National Typographical Union ' ' was at that 
time adopted, but this name was changed to " Interna- 
tional Typographical Union ' ' at the annual meeting in 
Albany, N. Y., in 1869. The word "international" 
was introduced in order to bring into the organization 
Canadian printers. Dr. Ely, in his work already quoted, 
asserts that "international" as a part of the title of 
American trades unions is intended to include members 
from the United States and Canada, few of them in- 
cluding Europeans. The International Typographical 
Union is the oldest existing American trades union. In 
this respect the American labor movement resembles the 
labor movement elsewhere, for generally we find the 
printers among the pioneers in the organization of labor. 
This is true of Italy, France, and Germany, the print- 
ers' unions being among the oldest and strongest of 
existing labor organizations.* 

Following the Printers' Union, the hatters established 

* " The Labor Movement in America," by Richard T. Ely. 



Leading 
unions. 



International 

Typographical 

Union. 



Oldest existing 
trades union in 
America. 



244 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Iron-molders. 



Hatters' unions, their great organization. This was in 1 854, the ' ' National 
Trade Association of Hat Finishers of the United States 
of America " being organized in that year. In 1868, 
however, it divided, one branch keeping the old name and 
the other taking the name of the ' ' Silk and Fur Hat Fin- 
ishers' Trade Association of the United States of 
America. ' ' 

A noted trades union is the " Iron-Molders' Union of 
North America," founded July 5, 1859, and the " Ma- 
chinists' and Blacksmiths' Union of North America," 
founded in the same year, and incorporated at that time 
by Congress, was once a powerful and influential body. 
It does not now, however, exert any influence, and it is 
doubtful if it exists. The Brotherhood of Locomotive 
Engineers started as the ' ' Brotherhood of the Foot- 
Board, at Detroit," August 17, 1863, but on the same 
date in the next year it reorganized under the name and 
title of the " Grand International Brotherhood of Loco- 
motive Engineers." The " Cigar-Makers' National 
Union," born in 1864; the "Bricklayers' and Masons' 
International Union," instituted October 17, 1865 ; the 
' ' Order of Railway Conductors, ' ' organized as the ' ' Con- 
ductors' Brotherhood" in 1868; the "United States 
Wool Hat Finishers' Association," organized in 1869 ; 
the "Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen," organized 
the same year ; the ' ' National Union of Horseshoers of 
the United States," dating from 1875 ; the " Amalga- 
mated Association of Iron and Steel Workers," one of 
the strongest trades unions in the United States, starting 
in 1876; the "Granite Cutters' National Union of the 
United States," organized in 1877 ; the "Brotherhood of 
Carpenters and Joiners," organized in 1881 ; the "Rail- 
Bakers road Brakemen," in 1884 ; the "Journeymen Bakers' Na- 
tional Union," in 1886, etc., etc., constitute the leading 



Locomotive 
engineers. 



Cigar-makers. 
Bricklayers. 

Conductors. 



Iron and steel 
workers. 



Granite cutters. 



Carpenters 
and joiners. 



Labor Organizatio7is. 



245 



trades unions of the country. Many of these unions have 
weekly newspapers of more or less influence. 

The three great orders which to-day exert the most o r d r e e r l great 
general influence in this country are the Knights of Labor, 
American Federation of Labor, and American Railway 
Union, and their prominence warrants a statement of 
some of the leading facts connected with their history and 
principles. These three great orders are founded on two ^"Ss o"? Sod- 
separate but fundamental ideas, the Knights of Labor atlons - 
and the American Railway Union upon one idea, and the 
American Federation of Labor upon the other. The 
distinctive features of these two ideas are, first, the or- 
ganization of members of a single vocation. The under- 
lying principle of such associations is that men who think 
alike should act together. This has been the funda- 
mental principle or basis of all organization, civil and 
political as well as industrial and professional. Trades- 
unionism in England and in this country is based upon 
this idea, and it seems to be the stronger basis, so far as 
the experience of labor organizations is concerned. 

The principle which underlies the second idea is that 
which ignores vocation and seeks to harmonize all indi- 
vidual or separate interests in the interests of the whole. 
This is the basis of society, but it has not been applied to 
labor organizations to any extent until within the past 
fifty or sixty years. Since 1830 there have been several 
attempts in France, and in some other continental coun- 
tries, to bring all workingmen, whether of one nation or 
of many, into harmonious association, each member every- 
where seeking the good of the whole. The principal in- 
stance of a labor organization based upon this broad 
principle was the International Association of Working-, 
men, popularly known as the " International," organ- ™££ffi Tm 
ized in London in 1864. This association sought to 



246 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



bring workingmen, wherever manufacturing had gained 
any notable foothold, into one society ; and it grew for 
a while, but never at any time had it a membership ex- 
ceeding one hundred thousand. It did not extend to the 
United States with sufficient force to involve any large 
number of workingmen in this country, and not until 
1870 or 1 87 1 were there any branches of it organized 
here. The part which the " International " played in 
the struggles in Paris in 1871 killed it for America, and 
practically killed the society itself. It had a stormy ex- 
istence, and was wrecked finally by its being taken under 
the control of the radical socialists of Europe. It sowed 
some seed, principally through its broad foundation, and 
not through its practices. 

The second great attempt to organize labor on this 
broad basis, that is, as broad as society itself, in which all 
parts should be recognized, was the Noble Order of 
Knights of Labor, which organization was born on 
Thanksgiving Day, 1869, in the city of Philadelphia, 
and was the result of the efforts of Uriah S. Stephens, as 
the leader, and six associates. They were all garment- 
cutters. For several years previous to this date the gar- 
ment-cutters of Philadelphia had been organized as a 
trades union, but had failed to obtain satisfactory rates of 
wages in their trade. Dissatisfaction prevailed, and in 
the fall of 1869 the union was disbanded ; but Stephens, 
foreseeing this result, had, by himself, prepared the out- 
line of a plan for an organization which should embrace 
all branches of honorable toil, and which, based upon 
education, through cooperation and an intelligent use of 
the ballot, should gradually abolish the present wage 
system. Mr. Stephens was a Free Mason, and he 
brought into the ritual of the new order many Masonic 
features, especially those relating to forms and cere- 



Labor Organizations. 



247 



monies. The obligations were in the nature of oaths, 
taken with all solemnity upon the Bible. The members 
were sworn to the strictest secrecy. The name of the 
order was not to be divulged, and it was for a long time 
referred to in the literature of the Knights of Labor, in 
their circulars, meetings, reports, and conversation, as 
" Five Stars, " five stars being used in all printing and Labfr%°own 
writing to designate the name of the order. Many clas- stars." 
sical expressions were taken from the Greek and intro- 
duced into the ritual. The instructions given to every ^Sation? 05 ° n 
person admitted to the order are as follows : 

Labor is noble and holy. To defend it from degradation ; to 
divest it of the evils to body, mind, and estate which ignorance 
and greed have imposed ; to rescue the toiler from the grasp of 
the selfish — is a work worthy of the noblest and best of our 
race. In all the multifarious branches of trade, capital has its 
combinations ; and, whether intended or not, they crush the 
manly hopes of labor, and trample poor humanity in the dust. 
We mean no conflict with legitimate enterprise, no antagonism 
to necessary capital ; but men, in their haste and greed, blinded 
by self-interests, overlook the interests of others, and some- 
times violate the rights of those they deem helpless. We mean 
to uphold the dignity of labor, to affirm the nobility of all who 
earn their bread by the sweat of their brows. We mean to 
create a healthy public opinion on the subject of labor (the 
only creator of values), and the justice of its receiving a full, 
just share of the values or capital it has created. We shall, 
with all our strength, support laws made to harmonize the in- 
terests of labor and capital, and also those laws which tend to 
lighten the exhaustiveness of toil. To pause in his toil, to de- 
vote to his own interests (sic), to gather a knowledge of the 
world's commerce, to unite, combine, and cooperate in the 
great army of peace and industry, to nourish and cherish, build 
and develop, the temple he lives in, is the highest and noblest 
duty of man to himself, to his fellow-man, and to his Creator. 

No details or general laws for the government of the No general 
order appear to have been adopted until the formation of 



248 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Increase in 
number of local 
assemblies. 



Growth of 
Knights of 
Labor. 



Present mem- 
bership esti- 
mated. 



Intellectual 
history of the 
Knights of 
Labor. 



the first Local Assembly in 1873 ; but the plan presented 
at the meeting in November, 1869, was heartily ap- 
proved, and adopted by Mr. Stephens' associates. Local 
assemblies began to increase and the order grew apace, 
and although by the first quarterly report it is shown 
that it had a membership of but twenty-eight, it num- 
bered at one time nearly one million members. The 
order consists of Local and District Assemblies and a 
General Convention of Delegates. The history of the 
order in its details is an interesting one, and shows the 
usual ups and downs of labor organizations. Religious 
prejudices grew in it, and finally its work was modified. 
The degree work as it was patterned after the Masonic 
ritual is not now known in the Knights of Labor, there 
being no degrees, in the sense of secret organization. 

The growth of the order was exceedingly rapid, so 
rapid that the Executive Board felt constrained at one 
time to call a halt in the initiation of new members. Its 
accessions were nearly 400,000 in one year. Mr. Pow- 
derly, in his testimony before the Strike Investigating 
Committee of Congress April 21, 1886, stated as follows : 
"Our present membership does not exceed 500,000, 
although we have been credited with 5,000,000. ' ' From 
various causes it has, during the last three or four years, 
suffered a decrease in membership, and now its member- 
ship is estimated at about 150,000. The order is repre- 
sented in nearly every state by its local and district 
assemblies. 

The intellectual history of the order is of far more im- 
portance to the public than its material history, and is to 
be found in its declaration of principles, its constitution, 
and its legislation. Prior to 1878 no declaration of prin- 
ciples had been made. The unwritten law of the order 
was observed, the membership being small and the local 



Labor Organizations. 



249 



and district assemblies few ; but as it grew in numbers 
and its influence extended over vast areas, written laws 
and written declarations became not only essential for the 
welfare of the order, but a necessity for its working. Prior 
to the abandonment of the secrecy of the workings of the 
order — that is, in 1881, when the oath-bound obligations 
were abolished and the simple pledge took its place — a 
declaration of principles had been adopted. This declara- 
tion of principles was adopted at the meeting of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, in Reading, Pa., January, 1878. Various 
additions have been made to this declaration from time to 
time, so that the Knights of Labor now stand upon a 
declaration of principles which, with a preamble, contains 
the basis of the working of the order. In the preamble, 
after referring to what is called ' ' the alarming develop- 
ment and aggressiveness of the power of money and cor- Declaration of 
porations under the present industrial and political sys- theTnights 
terns," and that such development ''will inevitably lead 
to the hopeless degradation of the people," the Knights 
declare that their body is not a political party, but that it 
is more, for in it are crystallized sentiments and measures 
for the benefit of the whole body politic. The declara- 
tion of principles calls upon all who believe in securing 
the greatest good to the greatest number to join in help- 
ing the Knights of Labor to make industrial and moral 
worth, not wealth, the true standard of individual and 
national greatness. 

Their aim is to secure to the workers of society the 
fullest enjoyment of the wealth they create ; leisure for General aim. 
the development of their intellectual, moral, and social 
faculties, and all the benefits, recreations, and pleasures 
of association — in a word, they declare themselves ready 
to join in any movement which will enable them to share 
in the gains and honor of advancing civilization. In or- 



250 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Demands. 



Measmes 
favored by 
Knights of 
Labor. 



der to secure these results they demand at the hands of 
the lawmaking power of municipality, state, and nation the 
establishment of the Referendum in the making of laws ; 
the creation of bureaus of labor for the collection of infor- 
mation ; that the land, including all the natural sources of 
wealth, being the heritage of all the people, should not be 
subject to speculative traffic ; that taxes upon land should 
be levied upon its full value for use, exclusive of improve- 
ments, and that the community should be entitled to all 
unearned increment ; the abrogation of all laws that do 
not bear equally upon capitalists and laborers, and the 
adoption of measures providing for the health and safety 
of those engaged in mining, manufacturing, and building 
industries. They also declare that there should be proper 
indemnification for injuries received through lack of the 
necessary safeguards. The incorporation of labor organi- 
zations should, in the opinion of the order, be recognized, 
and laws should be enacted providing for weekly payment 
of wages. They also take up the old and earliest claim 
under the labor movement in this country, that mechanics 
and laborers should have a first lien upon the product of 
their labor to the extent of their full wages. 

The order is opposed to the contract system on na- 
tional, state, and municipal work, and in favor of the 
enactment of laws providing for arbitration between em- 
ployers and employed and the enforcement of the de- 
cision of the arbitrators. In their conventions, however, 
the arguments have been, in many instances, against 
this declaration. They also favor the compulsory at- 
tendance at school of children between the ages of seven 
and fifteen years and the furnishing of text-books by 
the state free of charge. They also favor a graduated 
tax on incomes and inheritances. They are opposed to 
the hiring out of convict labor. They have a financial 



Labor Organizatio7is. 



251 



plank demanding the establishment of a national mone- 
tary system, in which a circulating medium in necessary 
quantity shall issue directly to the people, without the 
intervention of banks ; they are opposed to interest- 
bearing bonds, bills of credit or notes, but would pro- 
vide that, when need arises, the emergency shall be met 
by the issue of legal-tender, non-interest-bearing money ; 
they are also opposed to the importation of foreign labor 
under contract ; they are in favor of a postal savings 
bank, and they go to the extent of declaring that the 
government ought to obtain possession, under the right 
of eminent domain, of all telegraphs, telephones, and 
railroads. In closing their declaration, they pledge 
themselves to associate their labors in establishing co- 
operative institutions, such as will tend to supersede the 
wage system ; to secure for both sexes equal rights ; to 
gain some of the benefits of labor-saving machinery by 
a gradual reduction of the hours of labor to eight hours 
per day ; to persuade employers to agree to arbitrate all 
differences which may arise between them and their em- 
ployees, in order, as they state in closing, that the bonds 
of sympathy between them may be strengthened and 
that strikes may be rendered unnecessary. 

The order has a systematic and methodical constitu- 
tion, which consists of thirteen articles and is much like 
the constitutions of all organizations, except that it is 
quite elaborate. The motto of the order is, ' ' That is 
the most perfect government in which an injury to one 
is the concern of all." 

From the formation of the General Assembly (which 
consists of delegates from district assemblies) in 1878 
up to 1883 there was a strong element in the order in 
favor of supporting strikes, and strike funds were raised 
Hv a tax on the members. At the same time, the more 



Measures 
opposed by the 
order. 



Constitution. 



Attitude of the 
Knights of 
Labor as to 
strikes. 



252 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



advanced thinkers in the order were trying to educate 
the members to use every means for the settlement of 
difficulties, and so far succeeded that at the Cincinnati 
session, in 1883, the strike laws of the order were made 
so rigid that they practically amounted to a prohibition of 
strikes, so far as the support of the order was concerned. 
The laws now in force do not permit the support of a 
strike by the whole order. 

The literature of the Knights of Labor is not ex- 
Literature of tensive. The Journal of the Knights of Labor is the 
official organ of the order. The first number of this 
journal, under the name of the Journal of United Labor, 
was issued May 15, 1880, and was published monthly. 
It is now a weekly journal. 

The real growth of the order may be said to date 
from the Detroit session of 1881, when the strict secrecy 
of the order was abolished and it was declared that its 
name and objects should henceforth be made public* 



* For an extended historical sketch of the Knights of Labor, see Quarterly 
Journal of Economics for January, 1887, article by the author. 



CHAPTER XX. 



LABOR ORGANIZATIONS (Concluded). 

The "American Federation of Labor" is, as its name 

. r r'i • r it* •• American 

signifies, a lederation oi minor bodies or organizations. Federation 
It grew out of a call, issued conjointly by the ' ' Knights 
of Industry ' ' and a society known as the ' 'Amalga- 
mated Labor Union" (the latter being an offshoot of 
the Knights of Labor and composed of members of that 
order who had become somewhat dissatisfied with it), 
for a convention to meet August 2, 1 881, at Terre Haute, 
Ind. The Knights of Industry was a society whose 
membership was from the states of Illinois and Missouri. 
The membership of the Amalgamated Labor Union, 
which was organized in 1878, was from Indiana and 
Ohio. The object of the convention was to supplant, 
with a new and secret order, the Knights of Labor. The 
largest constituency of this preliminary convention was, 
however, trades union in its character, and they were 
opposed to increasing the number of labor societies then 
existing ; so the suggested secret organization was not 
effected. Another call was made, however, and a con- 
vention was held in the city of Pittsburg November 19, Date of its 
1 88 1. The call for this convention had in it the follow- or s anizatio 
ing statement : 

We have numberless trades unions, trades assemblies, or 
councils, Knights of Labor, and various other local, national, 
and international labor unions, all engaged in the noble task of 
elevating and improving the condition of the working classes. 
But great as has been the work done by these bodies, there is 

253 



254 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Date of organi 
zation under 
present name. 



vastly more that can be done by a combination of all these or- 
ganizations in a federation of trades and labor unions. 

The convention represented 262,000 workingmen, who 
sent to it 107 delegates, the result of their deliberations 
being a permanent organization under the name and 
style of the ' ' Federation of Organized Trades and 
Labor Unions of the United States and Canada. ' ' * 

The American Federation of Labor, under its present 
name and in its present form, was organized December 
8, 1886, at Columbus, O. Two years later it was de- 
cided that as the American Federation of Labor was the 
direct outgrowth of and the successor to the federation 
formed in 1881 at Pittsburg, the conventions of the 
American Federation should date from that year. 

The Terre Haute convention was the preliminary 
step, however, which led to the organization. Prior to 
1 88 1 there had been several attempts to organize a 
national union which should represent, in a federated 
form, the various trades unions, national and inter- 
national, existing in the United States, the first of these 
attempts taking place early in the year 1866, when the 
trades assemblies of New York City and Baltimore issued 
a call for a national labor congress, which resulted in a 
convention of one hundred delegates, representing some 
sixty open and secret organizations, the delegates com- 
ing from all parts of the Union. The convention met 
August 20. A second convention was held in Chicago 
its general aim. the following year. The aim was to imitate the Trades- 
Union Congress of England, in which local bodies, not 
allowed to discuss politics in their meetings, could send 
delegates to the central body and there deal with ques- 



Preliminary 
steps. 



* For an extended account of the organization of the American Federation 
of Labor, its history and aims, see chapter by P. J . McGuire in pamphlet en- 
titled " Trades Unions," by William Trant, published by the American Feder- 
ation of Labor, New York, 1888. 



Labor Organizations. 



255 



tions of a political nature, and thus influence national 
legislation in favor of the working classes.* 

In 1868 the National Labor Union held two conven- National Labor 
tions, one in May and the other in September, and in Umon > l868 - 
1869 it held a meeting in Chicago. In 1870 it met in 
Boston, in 1871 in Philadelphia, and in 1872 at Colum- 
bus, O. The latter was the last convention of the Na- 
tional Labor Union. 

Many trades unions went under in 187^, owing- to the Effects of 

. depression ol 

industrial depression. There was nothing in them par- l8 73- 
ticularly to hold members together. 

Several of the leading trades-unionists of the country 
called an "Industrial Congress" to meet in Rochester 
in April, 1874, and on the 14th of that month a con- 
vention was held, representing a secret organization 
then known as the " Sovereigns of Industry." The in- 
tention was to take up the old work of the National 
Labor Union. The "Industrial Brotherhood of the 
United States," another secret order, partaking largely of 
the character of the Knights of Labor, took part in this 
convention. The natural consequence was that the two 
interests, that is to say, the two ideas, that on which the 
Knights of Labor was organized and the trades-union 
idea, as already described, became antagonistic ; yet a 
platform which adopted most of the declaration of prin- 
ciples of the Knights of Labor was framed. The inten- 
tion of the convention was not carried out, however, the 
movement ending with the Rochester meeting. Other 
attempts were made in 1875 and 1876, but they were attempts at 
largely political, and having engaged in their political 
work, the temporary orders were very naturally dis- 
banded. The other years prior to 1881, when the Fed- 
eration of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the 

* Chapter by P. J. McGuire, already referred to. 



federation. 



256 Industrial Evolntio7i of the United States. 



United States and Canada was created, witnessed at- 
tempts at federation, but they were ephemeral in their 
nature. 

The permanent organization effected at Pittsburg No- 
organization, vember 19, 1881, under the call which has been cited, 

1881 

adopted a platform more comprehensive than that of the 
Knights of Labor, although not essentially differing 
therefrom. It demanded eight hours as a day's work ; 
called for national and state incorporation of trades 
unions ; favored obligatory education of all children and 
the prohibition of their employment under the age of 
fourteen ; also favored the enactment of uniform appren- 
tice laws ; opposed bitterly all contract convict labor and 
the truck system for payment of wages ; demanded laws 
giving to workingmen a first lien on property upon which 
their labor had been expended; insisted upon the abroga- 
tion of all so-called conspiracy laws ; advocated the estab- 
lishment of a national bureau of labor statistics ; urged 
the prohibition of the importation of foreign labor ; op- 
posed government contracts on public work ; favored the 
adoption by states of an employers' liability act, and urged 
all labor bodies to vote only for labor legislators. 

With the first convention at Pittsburg the new order 
Cleveland man- seemed to take on life and vigorously prosecuted its work. 
AmedcanFed- At its second convention, which was held in Cleveland, O. , 
Labor" ° f November 21, 1882, the organization took steps to pre- 
vent the recurrence of the fate of its predecessors and 
issued a manifesto discountenancing political action, tak- 
ing the ground that the federation had been organized as 
a purely industrial body and should so continue. This 
manifesto is worthy of preservation in any history of the 
labor movement, and is as follows : 

We favor this federation because it is the most natural and 
assimilative form of bringing the trades and labor unions 



Labor Organizations. 



257 



together. It preserves the industrial autonomy and distinctive 
character of each trade and labor union, and, without doing vio- 
lence to their faith or traditions, blends them all in one harmo- 
nious whole — a ' 'federation of trades and labor unions. ' ' Such a 
body looks to the organization of the working classes as workers, 
and not as ' ' soldiers " ( in the present deprecatory sense ) or pol- 
iticians. It makes the qualities of a man as a worker the only 
test of fitness, and sets up no political or religious test of mem- 
bership. It strives for the unification of all labor, not by strain- 
ing at an enforced union of diverse thought and widely separated 
methods, not by prescribing a uniform plan of organization, re- 
gardless of their experience or interests ; not by antagonizing or 
destroying existing organizations, but by preserving all that is 
integral or good in them and by widening their scope so that 
each, without destroying their individual character, may act 
together in all that concerns them. The open trades unions, na- 
tional and international, can and ought to work side by side with 
the Knights of Labor, and this would be the case were it not for 
men either overzealous or ambitious, who busy themselves in 
attempting the destruction of existing unions to serve their own 
whims and mad iconoclasm. This should cease and each should 
understand its proper place and work in that sphere, and if they 
desire to come under one head or affiliate their affairs, then let 
all trades and labor societies, secret or public, be represented in 
the Federation of Trades and Labor Unions. 

During the next few years the new order had many 
ugly questions to deal with. At an early date considerable 
friction was created between the federation and the 
Knights of Labor, and the attempts to include socialism 
and the doctrines of anarchists occupied a good deal of its 
attention and thought. 

The order had a constitution from the start, but at its 
convention in Baltimore, December 16, 1887, it adopted 
a revised constitution, under the name of the American 
Federation of Labor, by which it is now known. The 
preamble of that constitution is as follows : 

Whereas, A struggle is going on in all the nations of the 
civilized world, between the oppressors and the oppressed of 



Friction 
between the 
federation 
and Knights of 
Labor. 



Adoption of 
constitutions of 
the American 
Federation of 
Labor. 



258 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



all countries, a struggle between the capitalist and the laborer, 
which grows in intensity from year to year, and will work dis- 
astrous results to the toiling millions, if they are not combined 
for mutual protection and benefit. 

It therefore behooves the representatives of the trades and 
labor unions of America, in convention assembled, to adopt 
such measures and disseminate such principles among the me- 
chanics and laborers of our country as will permanently unite 
them, to secure the recognition of the rights to which they are 
justly entitled. 

We therefore declare ourselves in favor of the formation of a 
thorough federation, embracing every trade and labor organ- 
ization in America, under the trades-union system of organiza- 
tion. 

The federation is in no sense a secret order, nor is it 
an order which claims the individual allegiance of mem- 
bers, its membership consisting of national and inter- 
national trades unions or societies represented in it. It 
is therefore a purely democratic and representative or- 
ganization. It is a federation composed of the leading 
trades unions of the country. Affiliated with it are the 
older and more influential bodies, such as the Interna- 
tional Typographical Union, the Amalgamated Associa- 
tion of Iron and Steel Workers, the United Mine 
Workers, the Cigar-Makers' International Union of 
America, the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, 
etc., etc.* 



* The register of the principal national trades unions of the United States 
comprises the following orders : American Agents' Association, Journey- 
men Bakers' National Union, Journeymen Barbers' International Union of 
America, Blacksmiths' National Union, Boiler-makers and Iron Ship-builders, 
International Brotherhood of Brass Workers, Brewery Workmen's National 
Union, International Bricklayers and Stonemasons' Union, International 
Broommakers' Union, Butchers' National Protective Association, Brother- 
hood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Amalgamated Society of Carpen- 
ters and Joiners, Carriage and Wagonworkers' International Union, Cigar- 
makers' International Union of America, United Mine Workers of America, 
Coopers' International Union of North America, Orders of Railway Conductors, 
National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Brotherhood of Locomotive 
Engineers, Brotherhood of Stationary Engineers, United Order of Engineers, 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, International Furniture Workers' Union 
of America, Furriers' Union of United States of America and Canada, United 
Garment Workers of America, Glass Employees' Association of America, The 
United Green Glass Workers of United States and Canada, Table Knife Grind- 



Federation not 
a secret order. 



Affiliated 
orders. 



Labor Organizations. 



259 



As the constitution of the federation provides, its ob- objects of the 
ject is the encouragement and formation of local trades federatlon - 
and labor unions and the closer federation of such soci- 
eties, through the organization of central trades and 
labor unions, in every state, and the further combination 
of such bodies into state, territorial, or provincial organ- 
izations, to the end that legislation in the interests of the 
working masses may be secured. The Knights of Labor, 
it will be remembered, is an order composed of local and 
district assemblies of its own, and while the local assem- 
blies may and do represent different trades and callings 
in life, they are nevertheless bound by one uniform sys- Differs from 
tern of laws and regulations, their ritual and proceedings Labor hi "organ- 
being the same throughout the country ; while the lzatlon - 



ers' National Union, Pen and Pocket Knife Grinders and Finishers' National 
Union, Granite Cutters' National Union, Hat Finishers' International Associa- 
tion of North America, Hatmakers' International Union of North America, 
Silk Hatters' Association of North America, Wool Hatters' Association, Saddle 
and Harness Makers' National Union, International Journeymen Horseshoers 
of United States and Canada, Horse-collar Makers' National Union, Iron- 
molders' Union of North America, Sheet Iron and Cornice Workers' Interna- 
tional Union, Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, Spring 
Knife Makers' National Protective Union of America, Building Laborers' 
International Protective Union of North America, National Longshoremen's 
Association of the United States, Machinists International Union, International 
Association of Machinists, Musicians' Mutual League, National Pattern- 
makers' League, Brotherhood of Painters and Decorators of America, United 
Piano-makers, Operative Plasterers' International Association, Journeymen 
Plumbers and Gas and Steam Fitters of United States, Metal Polishers, Buffers 
and Platers' Union of North America, Potters' National Union, United Brother- 
hood of Paper-makers, International Typographical Union, German-American 
Typographia, Quarrymen's National Union of America, Steam Railroadmen's 
Union, Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees of America, 
Brotherhood of Railway Shopmen, Retail Clerks' National Protective Associa- 
tion, National Seamen's Union of America, Lasters' Protective Union, Boot and 
Shoe Workers' International Union, National Federation of Silk Workers, 
National Cotton Mule Spinners' Association of America, Journeymen Stone 
Cutters, Stove Mounters' International Union, Switchmen's Mutual Aid Associ- 
ation, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Tack-makers' Protective Union of 
United States and Canada, Journeymen Taiiors' Union of America, United 
Brotherhood of Tanners and Curriers of America, Mosaic and Encaustic Tile- 
layers' National Union, Railway Telegraphers, Commercial Telegraphers, 
National Union of Textile Workers of America, Brotherhood of Railroad Track- 
men, Hardwood Furniture and Piano Varnishers' International Union of 
America, Hotel and Restaurant Employees' National Alliance, Elastic Web 
Weavers' Amalgamated Association, Machine Woodworkers' International 
Union of America, Woodcarvers' National Union of North America. This list 
does not include 1,500 local unions affiliated with the American Federation of 
Labor, and several thousand other unaffiliated local unions, all of which have 
no national head. A few of these unions are not yet formerly affiliated with 
the Federation of Labor, yet all are united by virtue of a common polity. See 
Tribune Almanac, January, 1895. 



260 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Estimated 
membership of 
the American 
Federation of 
Labor. 



American Rail- 
way Union. 

Date of organ- 
ization. 



American Federation of Labor is a federation of various 
orders dissimilar in their methods of organization and 
having no common constitution or laws. The General 
Assembly of the Knights of Labor is composed of dele- 
gates from its subordinate branches, and the annual 
national convention of the American Federation of Labor 
consists of delegates from its affiliated societies. Each 
affiliated society, however, has its own government, dis- 
tinct from the government of the national convention. It 
has no power to order strikes, such matters being left to 
its affiliated societies. It is advisory in such matters, but 
not conclusive in its action. Its prestige comes both 
from itself and from the character and standing of some 
of its most important affiliations. The order has grown, 
numbering over 500,000 members at the present time, 
and is in a flourishing condition. 

The American Railway Union is the latest organization 
where the founders have sought to bring into one order 
a large body of employees. It was organized in Chicago 
June 20, 1893, and now numbers, as alleged, about 150,- 
000 members. It differs materially from the Knights of 
Labor and the American Federation of Labor, so far as 
its integral elements are concerned. It includes all rail- 
way employees born of white parents, and its declaration 
of principles adopts the motto, "In union there is 
strength," and declares that conversely without union 
weakness prevails. The union was organized for the pro- 
tection of members in all matters relating to wages and their 
rights as employees, and affirms that railway employees 
are entitled to a voice in fixing wages and in determining 
conditions of employment. In its organization it pro- 
vided for various departments designed to promote the 
welfare of the membership in a practical way and by prac- 
tical methods. Among other things, it was the design to 



Labor Organizations. 



261 



establish an employment department, in which the name 
of every member out of employment could be registered ; 
also a department of education, contemplating lectures 
upon subjects relating to economics, such as wages, ex- 
penses, the relations of employer to employee, strikes, 
their moral and financial aspects, etc. The declaration 
also provides for a department to promote legislation in 
the interest of labor and for a department of insurance. 

The American Railway Union is composed of a general composition of 
union consisting of a board of directors and local unions R^iiwTy r union. 
instituted under the jurisdiction of the general order. 
The order, while pledged to conservative methods, un- 
dertakes to protect the humblest of its members in every 
right ; but while it pledges itself that the rights of its 
members will be sacredly guarded, no intemperate de- 
mand or unreasonable propositions will be entertained. 
It started with the belief that all differences may be satis- 
factorily adjusted and harmonious relations established 
and maintained, and that the service may be incalculably 
improved, and that the necessity for strike and lockout, 
boycott and blacklist, which the declaration of principles 
declares to be alike disastrous to employer and employee 
and a perpetual menace to the welfare of the public, 
ought forever to disappear. Its general convention con- 
sists of representatives from the local unions, and it is the 
policy of the general union not to declare strikes of its features™ 6 
own motion, but to refer such matters to the particular 
class affected. Its distinctive feature is the organization 
of all railway employees under one jurisdiction. It was 
the first attempt to accomplish this. The Knights of 
Labor admits all classes of wage- workers, but it cannot in 
any sense be considered as an organization of railway em- 
ployees, nor have any great number of such employees, 
compared with the whole number, ever been connected 



262 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Lack in all 
constitutions. 



Extent of or- 
ganized labor. 



with the Knights of Labor. The American Federation 
of Labor and the Knights of Labor have many railway 
employees connected with them, but neither has ever 
attempted to secure a national, compact organization of 
all classes of railway employees. There have been 
attempts at times to federate certain railway organiza- 
tions, but at no time did the scope of the federation 
proposed or effected extend beyond the employees 
engaged in the train service. 

In the constitutions of all organizations, so far as they 
have been examined, there appears to be a great lack in 
this, that while they do not countenance riots, violence, 
intimidations, etc. , they do not provide for the discipline 
of their members when guilty of such acts. 

The question may be asked : "To what extent is the 
labor of the country organized ? ' ' This question can be 
fairly well answered. The Knights of Labor, with 150,- 
000 members in round numbers ; the American Federa- 
tion of Labor, representing 500,000, and the American 
Railway Union, representing 150,000, make a total mem- 
bership of 800,000. There are, according to the best 
estimates, probably 600,000 more connected with various 
local organizations not affiliated with the American Fed- 
eration of Labor nor in any way connected with any of its 
subordinate orders, the Knights of Labor, or the Ameri- 
can Railway Union. This makes a total of 1,400,000 
members in the labor organizations of the country, and 
these are to be found mostly in the manufacturing and 
mechanical industries. In such industries 4,712,622 per- 
sons were employed in 1890. The regular membership, 
therefore, of the labor unions of the country constitutes 
29.71 per cent of the whole number engaged in manufac- 
turing and mechanical industries. These statements 
should not be accepted as accurate, because there are so 



Labor Organizations. 



263 



many societies of workingmen and women not known as 

trades unions in any sense, societies which have for their Organizations 

J ' t not affiliated 

object chiefly some beneficial result and those organized wi i h large 

J J o orders. 

for social and educational purposes, taking no part in the 
great labor movement. They are, however, in a sense, 
labor organizations, but do not undertake to influence 
legislation or attempt the regulation of wages and condi- 
tions of employment. 

Labor organizations have had much to do with the de- 
velopment of industry, the legislation which relates to 
labor, and the establishment of some very deep and vital 
principles affecting not only labor itself, but the general 
welfare of the public. A brief account of labor legisla- 
tion, therefore, very naturally follows the account of labor 
organizations. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



THE BASIS OF LABOR LEGISLATION. 



Not of like im- 
portance in all 
states. 



Regulation in 
colonial days. 



The history of labor legislation in the United States 
cannot well be told in a connected form. Some states 
have quite elaborate codes ; others have followed in some 
respects and have ignored all legislation in other direc- 
tions, while some of our states, in which no great num- 
ber of mechanical industries have been established, have 
not felt the necessity of placing upon their statute books 
any laws regulating or protecting labor. In the colonial 
days labor was regulated even to its price, and the con- 
stant attempt to fix the price of commodities was 
a part of the general system of colonial legislation, 
following therein the methods of the mother-country. 
Trade was subjected to the most stringent regulations. 
Since colonial days the removal of restrictions upon the 
interchange of commodities has been the rule, yet, 
curiously enough, the same period has witnessed much 
governmental regulation in like directions. There seems 
to be an antagonism in these statements, yet they are 
true. The establishment of new industries, the ramifi- 
cations reaching in various directions, the congregation 
of labor in industrial centers — all these things have ne- 
cessitated interference on the part of the government 
with individual and corporate action, while a truer knowl- 
edge of economics has convinced states that they cannot 
regulate price by law. So the apparent contradiction is 
true in fact. As one class of restrictions has been re 

264 



The Basis of Labor Legislation. 



265 



Growth oflabor 



moved and the interchange of commodities made freer, 
other restrictions have been placed upon labor and the 
conditions surrounding it. But the restrictions of colo- 
nial days cannot, in a modern sense, be considered labor Such restric- 

J t \ tions not 

legislation, nor, in fact, can such restrictions be classed ". labor legisia- 

& t tion " in the 

as labor legislation generally. Of course, away back in modem sense, 
olden times the laws relating to apprentices, etc., were 
strictly labor legislation, and some English regulations 
were projected into the legislation of the colonies ; but 
the legislation which particularly belongs to the devel- 
opment of industry only is that which needs to be dealt 
with at the present time. 

In order to give the best idea of the growth of what 
may be properly termed ' ' labor legislation, ' ' its devel- legislation, 
opment in various directions, and its effect, the experi- 
ence of a single state will suffice, and a better idea of 
the development of labor laws will be given the reader 
by such a connected history of one state's actions ; for 
this purpose the labor legislation of the commonwealth 
of Massachusetts offers the best illustration of what has 
been accomplished. 

The establishment of the factory system, the story of 

. t r Conditions 

which is told in other chapters, brought with it some of which came 
the conditions which entered into the factory industry of system. 
England when the system became fixed there, and in 
1802 England inaugurated a system of laws which has 
had its influence in all countries where the factory system 
has taken root. The English factory brought into it 
large numbers of laborers from agricultural sections. 
There were also employed many women and children. 
These employees were mostly of an ignorant class, but 
their ignorance had not attracted attention because of its 
diffusion. The concentration of this ignorant class in 
industrial centers, however, brought attention to condi- 



266 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Crude English 
act of 1802. 



Questions 
which fol- 
lowed congre- 
gated labor. 



First factory 
act largely 
inoperative. 



tions and enlisted the interest and the sympathy of some 
of the leading English statesmen, among the rest, Sir 
Robert Peel, a member of Parliament and a great textile 
manufacturer. Through his exertions a crude factory 
act was passed in 1802, and from that day to the present 
the principles involved in that law have kept the English 
lawmaking power actively employed, until statutory 
regulations and restrictions have been extended over 
nearly every trade of the kingdom. 

When the consequences of congregated labor, working 
under the influence of simply natural forces, without the 
restrictions of positive legislation, were observed the 
great questions began to be asked, Has the nation any 
right to interfere ? Shall society suffer that individuals 
may profit ? Shall the next and succeeding generations 
be weakened morally and intellectually that estates may 
be enlarged ? * 

Sir Robert Peel was the first man to ask such ques- 
tions of Parliament. His efforts dealt simply with the 
regulation of the employment of apprentices. Under its 
provisions the employer was compelled to clothe his ap- 
prentice, whose work was limited to twelve hours a day. 
Night work was prohibited, and every apprentice was to 
receive daily instruction throughout the first four years of 
his time, and his school attendance was to be reckoned 
as his working time. There were many other regula- 
tions relating to instruction on Sundays, and useful sani- 
tary clauses were contained in the law. It proved in- 
operative in a great measure, but the principle was estab- 
lished. The arguments against the enactment of Sir 
Robert Peel's bill have been repeated in England during 
all subsequent movements, and they have been heard in 
debate in every session of every legislature in the United 

* " Reign of Law," Duke of Argyle, page 348. 



The Basis of Labor Legislation. 



267 



States every time any proposition has been made to pro- 
tect labor. 

There has never been any necessity for enacting the 
elaborate factory code of England as it now stands on Conditions 

J here not the 

her statute books, because the conditions surrounding same as in 

& England. 

factory labor in this country were not those experienced 
in England ; yet the long hours of labor in the earlier 
days of the textile factories of New England came to be 
considered a burden upon the operatives, and so it was 
very natural that the first attempts to secure legislative 
restriction related to working hours. 

A careful examination of the whole subject discloses no attempts in 
no particular attempt to secure any enactments in this state^prior to 
country prior to 183 1. In that year a special commis- l8sl- 
sion appointed by Governor Lincoln of Massachusetts 
reported upon certain features of bankruptcy laws, pro- 
posing the abolition of imprisonment for debt, and in 
1834 an act abolishing imprisonment for debt was ap- 
proved. In 1836 Massachusetts specifically regulated 
the instruction of youths employed in manufacturing 
establishments, and from that date until 1863 labor legis- 
lation was practically confined to the subjects of educa- 
tion of children employed in factories, imprisonment for 
debts, liens, and various special acts incorporating me- Efforts in 
chanics' institutes, etc., etc. In 1832 the subject of Massachusetts, 
regulating the hours of labor by legislation was frequently 
agitated and was the subject of reports by various 
commissions and legislative committees, but, strangely 
enough, no definite action was taken until 1874, when 
what is known as the ten-hour law was passed. This law 
established the hours of labor for women and for children 
under eighteen years of age at sixty per week. The 
hours of labor of children under twelve had been limited 
to ten per day as early as 1842, and the Honorable Horace 



268 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Horace Mann's Mann, in his report on education for 1840, took very 
strong ground relative to the necessity of limiting in 
some way the actions of employers and of "unnatural 
parents" in securing the employment of children in 
textile factories. In all probability the efforts of Mr. 
Mann led to the legislation of 1842, regulating the hours 
of labor of children under twelve. 
Reduction The agitation for reduction of hours of labor also led to 

of hours. t j ie t en _hour'plan on a voluntary basis in most of the ship- 

building trades in the commonwealth, for they were em- 
ployed on that basis in 1844, while as early as 1853 many 
of the trades were working but ten hours. As stated in 
an earlier chapter on the labor movement, President Van 
Buren issued his well-known order April 10, 1840, "that 
all public establishments will hereafter be regulated, as to 
working hours, by the ten-hour system." However, it 
cannot be said that the movement for the reduction of the 
hours of labor progressed with any persistency, so far as 
time was concerned, yet it gained strength from year to 
year, fitful as it was. The thread is wanting to make a 
history of labor legislation thoroughly harmonious. 
Agitation of ^ e aggressive agitation may be said to have com- 
l8 45- menced in 1845, when petitions were introduced to the 

legislature (Massachusetts is meant in this part of the his- 
tory) praying for reduction of hours of labor in corpora- 
tions, eleven hours being the fixed time desired in that 
year ; but the legislative committee to which the petitions 
were referred reported against the petitioners. The rea- 
sons given were that it would be unjust to regulate hours 
for corporations, when private individuals would be free 
from the operations of such a law ; and the committee 
stated its belief that factory labor was no more injurious 
than other kinds ; that wages would necessarily have to be 
reduced if such a law was passed, and that other states 



The Basis of Labor Legislation. 



269 



would distance Massachusetts in the markets of the world. 
To use the exact words of the committee, such law would 
' ' close the gate of every mill in the state. ' ' The question 
of hours then remained dormant, so far as the legislature 
was concerned, until 1850, when a legislative committee 
that had been instructed to consider the subject ascer- 
tained that mills in Lowell were running twelve hours 
daily, or fourteen hours more per week than English mills ; 
yet the majority of the committee considered legislation Failure of legis- 
inexpedient, the minority reporting a bill establishing 
eleven hours as the legal day on and after September 1 , 
1850, and ten hours on and after July 1, 1851. The bill 
was defeated. Two years elapsed before the subject came 
up again, when, in 1852, an attempt was made to have 
ten hours made the legal day, in the absence of any spe- 
cial contract, and providing that children under fifteen 
should not work more than ten hours. The bill provid- 
ing for this measure failed. 

Nothing of any consequence occurred relative to at- 
tempts to secure labor legislation until 1865, when an un- 
paid commission of five was appointed to collect information 
and statistics in regard to the hours of labor and the con- 
dition and prospects of the industrial class. This was 
the first step in the world toward the establishment of 
bureaus of statistics of labor. Governor Bullock, in his 
address for 1866, called attention to the report of this 
commission. He stated that the question of the hours of 
labor was not merely one of sanitary connections, but one 
which related to the social condition of the state. He said 
he had no hesitation as to the rightful authority of the 
legislature over the subject, and believed that a concession 
to the wishes of those who sought for a thorough inquiry 
would be productive of a better understanding, not only 
of the specific question itself, but of the intimate and mu- 



270 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



tually beneficial relations which all classes sustained to 
each other. In response to this the legislature passed, in 
1866, an act in relation to the employment of children in 
manufacturing establishments, and this act is worthy of 
consideration at this point. It reads as follows : 

AN ACT 

IN RELATION TO THE EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN IN MANU- 
FACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS. 

Section i. No child under the age of ten years shall be 
employed in any manufacturing establishment within this com- 
monwealth, and no child between the age of ten and fourteen 
years shall be so employed, unless he has attended some pub- 
lic or private school under teachers approved by the school 
committee of the place in which such school is kept, at least 
six months during the year next preceding such employment ; 
nor shall such employment continue unless such child shall at- 
tend school at least six months in each and every year. 

Section 2. The owner, agent, or superintendent of any 
manufacturing establishment, who knowingly employs a child 
in violation of the preceding section, shall forfeit a sum not ex- 
ceeding fifty dollars for each offense. 

Section 3. No child under the age of fourteen years shall 
be employed in any manufacturing establishment within this 
commonwealth more than eight hours in any one day. 

Section 4. Any parent or guardian who allows or consents 
to the employment of a child, in violation of the first section of 
this act, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding fifty dollars for each 
offense. 

Section 5. The governor, with the advice and consent of 
the council, may, at his discretion, instruct the constable of the 
commonwealth and his deputies to enforce the provisions of 
chapter forty-two of the General Statutes, and all other laws 
regulating the employment of children in manufacturing estab- 
lishments, and to prosecute all violations of the same. 

The same legislature, that of 1866, authorized the ap- 
pointment of a commission of three persons to investi- 
gate the subject of the hours of labor in its relation to 



The Basis of Labor Legislation. 271 

the social, educational, and sanitary condition of the 
working classes. This language is very significant. It 
is found in nearly every act creating a bureau of statis- 
tics of labor in the United States. 

The next year, 1867, the legislature regulated the Act of 1867. 
schooling and hours of labor of children employed in 
manufacturing and mechanical establishments, and this 
act has been considered fundamental in its provisions, 
and it belongs to the history of labor. It is as follows : 

Section i. No child under the age of ten years shall be 
employed in any manufacturing or mechanical establishment 
within this commonwealth, and no child between the age of 
ten and fifteen years shall be so employed, unless he has at- 
tended some public or private school under teachers approved 
by the school committee of the place in which such school is 
kept, at least three months during the year next preceding such 
employment : provided said child shall have lived within the 
commonwealth during the preceding six months ; nor shall 
such employment continue unless such child shall attend school 
at least three months in each and every year ; and provided 
that tuition of three hours per day in a public or private day 
school approved by the school committee of the place in which 
such school is kept, during a term of six months, shall be deemed 
the equivalent of three months' attendance at a school kept in 
accordance with the customary hours of tuition ; and no time 
less than sixty days of actual schooling shall be accounted as 
three months, and no time less than one hundred and twenty 
half-days of actual schooling shall be deemed an equivalent of 
three months. 

Section 2. No child under the age of fifteen years shall be 
employed in any manufacturing or mechanical establishment 
more than sixty hours in one week. 

Section 3. Any owner, agent, superintendent, or over- 
seer of any manufacturing or mechanical establishment, who 
shall knowingly employ, or permit to be employed, any child 
in violation of the preceding sections, and any parent or guard- 
ian who allows or consents to such employment, shall for such 
offense forfeit the sum of fifty dollars. 



272 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Section 4. It shall be the duty of the constable of the 
commonwealth to specially detail one of his deputies to see 
that the provisions of this act and all other laws regulating the 
employment of children or minors in manufacturing or me- 
chanical establishments, are complied with, and to prosecute 
offenses against the same ; and he shall report annually to the 
governor all proceedings under this act ; and nothing in this 
section shall be so construed as to prohibit any person from pros- 
ecuting such offenses. 

Section 5. Chapter two hundred and seventy-three of the 
acts of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-six is hereby re- 
pealed : provided, this act shall not affect any proceedings now 
pending. 

Section 6. This act shall take effect sixty days from its 
passage. 

It will be seen that the act of 1866 was repealed by 
Repeal of act of this last law, but it established on a broader basis the 
principles were principles announced the year before. In 1867 a special 

established. r r / , e . ' K. 

state constable was appointed to enforce the provisions 
of the schooling act just quoted. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



LABOR LEGISLATION. 

The commission on the hours of labor which had been Rep ort of 
established in 1866 and 1867 made a report, which was SmTsskfnof 
signed by the five commissioners, and after presenting 1866 and lS6? * 
some statistics concerning the hours of labor, they con- 
cluded that the ten-hour system was generally adopted 
in mechanical employments and that eleven hours was 
the general rule in cotton factories. After presenting 
the arguments, pro and con, for a reduction of the hours 
of labor, touching in their considerations upon such 
points as province of law, law of usury, overwork, hasty 
meals, labor-saving machinery, elevation of labor, etc. , 
they arrived at the conclusion, regarding an eight-hour 
law, that it should not be adopted, and for the reasons, 
as they considered, that it was unsound in principle to ap- 
ply one measure of time to all kinds of labor ; that if 
adopted as a general law it would be rendered void by 
special contracts ; that a very large proportion of the 
industrial interests could not observe it ; and, finally, 
that if restricted to the employees of the state of Massa- 
chusetts it would be manifestly partial and therefore un- 
just ; and the commission took the ground that the 
change desired could be better brought about by work- 
ingmen outside the legislature than by legislators them- 
selves. The commission did recommend, however, that ' 

Its recom- 

a change be made in the statutes concerning the school- mendations. 
ing and work of children in manufacturing districts, in 

273 



274 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



such way as to give them twice the amount of schooling 
then required, and this, it thought, could be secured by 
adopting in full what is known as the ' ' half-time sys- 
tem." The commission recommended that an inspector 
or inspectors be appointed to attend to the enforcement 
of the laws then in existence, and their duty should be 
to look after the children put to apprenticeship or other- 
wise bound to service by the state, to see that they were 
properly cared for according to the terms of indentures ; 
and it made this further recommendation, that provision 
be made for the annual collection of reliable statistics in 
regard to the condition, prospects, and wants of the in- 
dustrial classes. 

The second commission also made a majority and a 
minority report, and they found that the act of 1866, 
which has been quoted, and which provided that no child 
under ten years of age should be employed in any manu- 
facturing establishment within the commonwealth, was 
generally disregarded. Elev r en hours was found to be 
the rule in factories, and the commissioners remarked 
that such toil each day for six days in each week was 
more than women and children ought to be required to 
perform. The commission recommended that the exist- 
ing laws be so amended as to insure the execution of 
provisions which forbid the employment of children be- 
tween the ages of ten and fourteen, and that the employ- 
ment of all persons under the age of eighteen years in 
factories for more than ten hours each day or sixty hours 
per week be prohibited. It also recommended that a 
bureau of statistics be established for the purpose of col- 
lecting and making available all facts relating to the in- 
dustrial and social interests of the commonwealth. 

On the general question of the reduction of the hours 
of labor, however, the commissioners did not believe in 



Labor Legislation. 



275 



lawmaking. They thought public sentiment should in- 
duce the employer to shorten the hours in certain trades, 
especially in the winter season. They argued strongly 
in favor of making the hour the unit of time in relation to 
labor, and suggested that it might be well to enact that 
no contracts for labor not made upon the hour standard 
should be recognized in law. The commission concluded 
that it could not recommend the enactment of any law re- 
stricting the hours of labor for the adult population of 
the commonwealth. 

In 1869, following the recommendations of the com- Establishment 
missions, the legislature of Massachusetts established the of statistics of 
Bureau of Statistics of Labor. Between 1866 and 1869 
there was no particular attention given to labor reform, 
so far as legislation was concerned, in any of its phases. 
The establishment of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor in 
1869 marked the beginning of a new movement in this 
country. That bureau was authorized to collect, assort, 
systematize, and present in annual reports to the legisla- 
ture, statistical details relating to all departments of labor 
in the commonwealth, especially in its relation to the 
commercial, industrial, social, educational, and sanitary 
condition of the laboring classes, and to the permanent 
prosperity of the productive industry of the common- 
wealth. The experience of this office has led to the es- 
tablishment of bureaus in thirty-one other states and of JtatJs ami d 3i 
the United States Department of Labor. An influence |^ s s ™h 
has grown out of the work of these bureaus and depart- officers, 
ment which has extended over the world, so that the ex- 
perience of American states in collecting and publishing 
information relating to industrial affairs has been repeated 
in England, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Foreign 
Austria, and other states of continental Europe, and in ttet^ofkboV. 
New Zealand and Canada. 



276 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Facts which the American offices have been able to lay 
before the public have assisted largely in securing legis- 
lation on the one hand, and of preventing injurious legis- 
lation on the other. 

The attempts to secure legislation relative to the hours 
of labor were renewed in 1870 with great earnestness, 
and each year saw a repetition of attempts to secure the 
enactment of a ten-hour law ; but these attempts proved 
unsuccessful until 1874, when the act establishing the 
hours of labor at sixty per week for women and for chil- 
dren under eighteen years of age was passed. This law 
provides that no minor under the age of eighteen years 
and no woman over that age shall be employed by any 
person, firm, or corporation in any manufacturing estab- 
lishment more than ten hours in any one day, except 
when it is necessary to make repairs to prevent the stop- 
page or interruption of the ordinary running of the ma- 
chinery. The law also provides for penalties in case of 
violation. 

In 1872 Massachusetts passed a law to secure cheap 
morning and evening trains on railways for the use of 
workingmen. No other state in the Union is known to 
have ever made this attempt, or, at least, to have suc- 
ceeded in passing such a law. The roads running trains 
out of Boston to the suburbs followed the requirements 
of the law, and ever since on some of the roads, where 
they have been petitioned for the trains, these working- 
men's trains have been run. In England they are known 
as ' ' parliamentary trains. ' ' 

The legislation of 1874 establishing the ten-hour system 
for women and for children under eighteen years of age 
did not entirely quiet the ten-hour agitation, and subse- 
quently new legislation has been secured reducing the 
time below sixty hours per week. The legislation of 



Labor Legislation. 



277 



1876 reconstructed the laws relating to the employment 
of children and the regulations respecting them, yet pre- 
served the principles involved in the earlier legislation. 

In 1877, following the general provisions of the Eng- J^p^ 
lish factory acts, the legislature enacted a law relating to 
the inspection of factories and public buildings, under the 
provisions of which all dangerous machinery, such as belt- 
ing, shafting, gearing, drums, etc., must be securely 
guarded ; and it also provided that no machinery, other 
than steam-engines, shall be cleaned while running. The 
ventilation and cleanliness of factories are also secured. 
Hoistways, hatchways, elevators, well-holes are, under the 
law, to be provided with and protected by good and suf- Safety 
ficient trap-doors, etc., and all establishments three or 
more stories in height are to be provided with properly 
constructed fire-escapes. The law also provides that all 
the main doors, both inside and outside, of manufacturing 
establishments shall open outwardly whenever inspectors 
shall deem it necessary, and means of extinguishing fires 
must be provided in all such works. The law went be- 
yond manufacturing establishments, and provided that all 
churches, schoolrooms, halls, theaters, and every build- 
ing used for public assemblies should have such means of 
egress as the factory inspectors should approve, and that 
all doors to main entrances in such buildings should swing 
outwardly. Portable seats were prohibited in the halls 
or passageways of buildings during any entertainment or 
service. These provisions have remained in the laws of 
the commonwealth and have been incorporated in those 
of many other states. Factory inspectors are provided in 
many of the great manufacturing states, and they have an 
annual convention, during which they consider means for 
the safety of operatives, miners, and all employees en- 
gaged in manufacturing, mining, or mechanical pursuits. 



2j8 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Factory laws of 
Massachusetts 
taken as for the 
whole United 
States. 



Employers' 
liability. 



Common-law 
rule. 



Great good has come from their deliberations. The com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts has constantly amended the 
laws to which reference has been made, perfecting them, 
extending them, or restricting them when their provisions 
were found to be inoperative. 

This brief history of factory labor laws in the com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts is the history of like legis- 
lation in various other states.* 

Looking out more broadly now, it is found that cer- 
tain changes have been made in the common law, 
growing out of the conditions of modern industry, and 
resulting in positive legislation which has changed the 
old common -law rules. The chief legislation in this 
respect relates to employers' liability for personal injuries 
to their employees. Under the common law as it exists 
in England and America and in the greater part of the 
continent of Europe, where the Roman law is the prec- 
edent, it is the rule that the principal is responsible for 
the acts of the agent, the same as if he performed the 
acts himself. There are, of course, many modifications 
of this rule under special circumstances, but the general 
rule is as stated. It is curious, however, to note that 
this rule does not apply, generally and in broad terms, 
where the person injured by the agent or employee of 
another is also an agent or employee of the same prin- 
cipal ; that is, in simple terms, if A is the proprietor of 
a factory, a works, or a railroad, and B and C are em- 
ployees of A, and B is injured through the carelessness 
or negligence of C, he cannot recover of the proprietor 
A, because B and C are what are known under the com- 
mon law as co-employees, and the defense of co-employ- 
ment would be set up in the courts of the common law, 



* See reports of Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 1876, and sub- 
sequent years. 



Labor Legislation. 



279 



under which it would be claimed that A was not liable to 

B for any damages resulting- from injuries received illustration of 

Jo o J the common- 

thrOUgh the negligence of C. This doctrine, too, is law rule - 

subject to modifications and restrictions, but the broad 
principle is as stated. Of course if it could be proved 
by B, who was injured through the carelessness or neg- 
ligence of C, that the carelessness or negligence was 
really that of the proprietor A, then he could recover, 
but not otherwise. 

It is usually assumed, under the common-law rule, 
that the employee engages in the services of a company 
or of an individual employer with a full knowledge of 
all the risks, dangers, and responsibilities of the peculiar 
employment, and therefore assumes those risks, respon- 
sibilities, and liabilities under any dangers which exist ; 
but such risks which the employee takes are considered 
only the ordinary risks. The rule does not apply where „„ , J 

J J When rule does 

the risk is not of such a nature as to be reasonably known not apply, 
and assumed, nor does it apply under circumstances 
where the risk is known to the employer but not to the 
employee, nor where the employer is under a positive 
duty and the injury results from neglect of that positive 
duty, nor, as already remarked, when the injury is in- 
curred through the negligence of the employer himself, 
except, in the latter case, where the employee may have 
contributed to the negligence. 

This whole subject of the liability of employers for in- 
juries to their employees is an exceedingly interesting 
one, and offers very many opportunities for fine legal 
distinctions and the application of what might be called 
the philosophy of law. The reader must bear in mind 
that while the rules of the common law are as have 
been broadly stated, modifications and restrictions exist. 
The one which is of interest at this point is that which 



280 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



prevents the employee from recovering as against the 
employer when the employee is injured through the 
negligence or carelessness of a co-employee. This lat- 
ter rule is a growth of recent years, and is what is or- 
ia{v/' Se " made dinarily denominated "judge-made law" ; that is, it is 
the result of the rulings of courts in various places, and 
not the result of statutory provision. It has grown up 
from the olden time and been projected into new con- 
ditions never contemplated when the rule was of value. 
The old rule has a good deal of reason in it under cer- 
tain restricted circumstances, but when broadly applied 
it appears to many to be so inconsistent, and even ridic- 
ulous, that legislatures are beginning to restrict the 
common law by positive statutes. 

An illustration of how the old rule would work will, 
perhaps, best emphasize its absurdity. A man under 
former systems of industry, before the great factory sys- 
tem and the congregation of labor generally came into 
vogue — in fact, before the development of industries 
under our present methods — in working alongside of his 
fellow employee and all the employees working with the 
employer himself, might not reasonably claim damages 
for any injury received during the co-employment ; but 
How it works to apply this rule when a brakeman on a railroad line, it 
on a railroad. ^ hundreds of miles in length, by the negligence of 

a switchman whom the brakeman never saw, whose char- 
acter he did not know when he entered the service, and 
to whose negligence the brakeman could not possibly 
have contributed, receives serious personal injury, ap- 
pears, to the ordinary mind, the very height of absurdity. 
Under the old rule the brakeman cannot, under the cir- 
cumstances just described, recover any damages from the 
railroad corporation, because the brakeman and the 
switchman are considered as co-employees of the same 



Labor Legislation. 



281 



principal. So in a factory, the attendant of a loom may 
be quietly and industriously attending to her business as In a factory, 
a weaver, and through the negligence or carelessness or 
drunkenness of one who attends the engine in the engine- 
house a thousand feet away, loses an arm ; under these 
circumstances the weaver cannot recover damages from 
the proprietor or owners of the factory under the com- 
mon-law rule. 

These illustrations show how thoroughly absurd that 
rule appears to many men and to many most excellent 
lawyers and judges. In order to remedy the difficulty 
recourse has been had to statutory provisions, by which 
the rule is abrogated or its application limited. The first 
attempt at such limitation was by the Parliament of Great 
Britain. After long agitation, investigations by parlia- 
mentary committees, and discussions in Parliament, a law Modification of 
in great measure abrogating the common-law rule was r uie£°Engiand. 
enacted in 1880 ; and that act called the attention of em- 
ployers and employees everywhere to the inconsistencies 
of the common law. Many corporations resisted the en- 
actment of laws which would tend, as they claimed, to 
the great increase of expenses of running their works or 
roads, and much fear was expressed on the passage of 
the bill through Parliament that the results would be dis- 
astrous to industry and prevent dividends on the stock 
of railroads. The experience of the English law, how- 
ever, has not substantiated such fears, while one of the 
very best effects of the law has been to induce greater care 
in the selection of agents. It may be that this is the 
very greatest benefit that can be derived from such a 
statute, for the careful administration of the railroad 
service is one of the most vital features of railroad man- 
agement, so far as the public is concerned ; and if the 
statutory limitation of the common law stimulates the 



282 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Modification in 
the United 
States. 



Alabama. 
Massachusetts. 



Action in other 
states. 



selection of the very best skill in the employment of men, 
it certainly justifies its enactment. It is true that the 
financial disasters predicted have not occurred. 

All the agitation in England relative to the subject has 
reappeared in the United States. Labor organizations 
demand it in their platforms and declarations of princi- 
ples, learned writers have insisted upon the justice of it, 
and judges have indorsed it. The first law, however, 
following in any great degree the English legislation was 
quietly passed by the Alabama legislature February 12, 
1885. The Massachusetts legislature, after several years 
of consideration and a very careful investigation of the 
law and facts by the Bureau of Statistics of Labor, passed 
an act to extend and regulate the liability of employers 
to make compensation for personal injuries suffered by 
employees in their service. This act was passed in 1887. 
These two states are the only states that have practically 
reenacted the English law of 1880. Many other states 
have, in some way and to some extent, weakened the 
force of the common-law rule. California, Colorado, 
Dakota, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, 
Montana, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Illinois, Indiana, Ken- 
tucky, Texas, and it may be others, have in some way 
limited the old common-law rule.* 



* The whole question of employers' liability is fully discussed in the report 
of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor for 1883 ; in the Eleventh 
Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor and Industries of New 
Jersey, 1888 ; in the Fifth Annual Report of the United States Commissioner of 
Labor, 1889. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



labor legislation (Concluded). 

There has been a great change in the doctrine of 
conspiracy as applied to the efforts of workingmen to 
secure higher wages or to resist reduction. Prior to 1824 
it was conspiracy and felony in England for laborers to 
unite for purposes which are now regarded in that coun- 
try as desirable, not only for the safety of government 
but for the safety of capital and for the protection of the 
rights of workingmen. 

While the doctrine of conspiracy, as derived from the changes in con- 
English common law and applied in this country as s P iracylaws - 
modified by statute, has not, perhaps, undergone any 
radical changes, it is construed nevertheless much more 
liberally now than formerly. The trial of the journey- 
men boot and shoemakers of Philadelphia in 1806 
furnishes a striking example. At that trial the recorder 
broadly asserted that ' ' a combination of workmen to 
raise their wages may be considered in a twofold point 
of view ; one is to benefit themselves, the other is to 
injure those who do not join their society. The rule of 
law condemns both." 

The doctrine has been construed and applied in rather Sporadic con . 
a sporadic way as far back as 1821, when Judge Gibson stniction in the 
of Pennsylvania expressed views more in accordance 
with the construction to-day than many judges who suc- 
ceeded him. Judge Savage, in New York, in deliver- 
ing an opinion, cited instances in cases supporting the 

283 



284 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Law of con- 
spiracy not well 
understood. 



Present con- 
struction as 
illustrated in 
New York. 



statements that a confederacy or mutual agreement for 
the purpose of raising wages was an indictable offense at 
common law. 

It is probably true that the doctrine of conspiracy was 
so seldom invoked in the past that it was only imperfectly 
understood and that many belonging to the legal pro- 
fession did not fully appreciate it. So, in view of the 
few precedents and adjudications, the decision in each in- 
dividual case depended much, perhaps entirely, on the 
research and learning of the judge before whom the trial 
was made. As cases have multiplied in this country, 
however, the learning on the subject has become more 
widely known ; but the question of what combinations of 
workmen or employers may or may not do without sub- 
jecting themselves to indictment for conspiracy is still 
somewhat obscure, especially in those states in which the 
common law unmodified by statute still remains in force. 
Without modification by statute judges have modified its 
application, and so to-day a combination of workingmen 
for the purpose of united action in securing an increase 
of wages or for preventing a decrease is not considered 
conspiracy, nor the persons indictable as conspirators. 

Perhaps as good an illustration of the present construc- 
tion of the doctrine of conspiracy, as limited by statute, 
as can be given is contained in the decision of Judge Bar- 
rett of the Court of Oyer and Terminer of the city of New 
York*, delivered September 29, 1887, when certain mem- 
bers of the executive committee of one of the district as- 
semblies of the Knights of Labor were on trial for alleged 
unlawful interference with employees of a manufacturer 
of that city. Judge Barrett states that the law, as ex- 
pressed in the existing statute, permits orderly and peace- 
able cooperation, and, to render cooperation effective, 

* Affirmed by Court of Appeals. 



Labor Legislation. 



285 



permits, logically, a resort to all lawful means of enforce- 
ment. He said that peaceable withdrawal from employ- 
ment, commonly called a strike, however extensive, is 
plainly such an incident. Violence, of course, is not, 
nor is a threat of violence, whether direct or as implied 
in a disorderly and turbulent strike ; and Judge Brady, 
in delivering the opinion of the Supreme Court, to which 
the case just cited had been appealed, stated that "no 
doubt exists of the right of workmen to seek by all pos- 
sible means an increase of wages, and all meetings and 
combinations having that object in view, which are not 
distinguished by violence or threats, and are unlawful 
therefore, cannot be reasonably condemned or justly in- 
terfered with." 

This fairly represents the attitude of the courts on the 
doctrine of conspiracy as applied to combinations of work- Attitude ot 
ingmen for lawful purposes. It is only recently, how- courts * 
ever, that legislation in this country has been directed 
toward strikes, boycotts, and conspiracies relating to the 
raising of wages, etc. In many of the states where 
the common law of England was in force men were 
tried for, and often convicted of, conspiracy for at- 
tempts to coerce their employers by resorting to 
strikes and their concomitants — the boycotting of non- 
union men and those who employed them. In recent of j egis i atures 
years a number of states and territories have endeavored 
to make plain by statute how far a combination by em- 
ployees to raise or maintain the rate of wages, or for kin- 
dred purposes, is to be protected ; and, on the other 
hand, what acts by such combinations or by individuals 
will subject the perpetrators to punishment. Some states, 
however, have made no such efforts, but of them it is 
true that the common law on the subject of conspiracy 
appears to be still in force and that in some others where 



286 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



the common-law rule obtains the absence of statutory- 
enactments on the subject may be accounted for by the 
comparative rarity of serious strikes or boycotts. This 
is especially true in localities where agriculture is the 
chief pursuit of the people and where the mechanical, 
manufacturing, and mining interests are of little or no 
importance. In such communities strikes, boycotts, and 
conspiracies relating to wages are almost unknown. 

Intimidation, violence, threats, and all such efforts 
must accompany combinations now in most of the states 
in order to constitute a case of conspiracy under the law. 
Peaceable organization for peaceable and lawful purposes 
is no longer conspiracy. It is a piece of wisdom, there- 
fore, that so many of the states have taken the pains to 
define by statute what shall constitute conspiracy. 

In the early days of the development of mechanical in- 
dustries, the truck system was introduced in different 
parts of the country east and west. It never had any ex- 
istence in the South until since the war. By the truck 
system is meant the payment of wages in goods. Great 
manufacturing concerns, removed somewhat from trade 
centers, established stores where their employees could 
be supplied with the necessaries of life. The prime motive 
in the establishment of such stores was undoubtedly to 
accommodate the employees, because goods were brought 
directly to their own locality and they could get them 
easily and avoid great inconvenience ; but the habit soon 
grew of allowing employees to run an account at such 
stores, the consequence being that on settlement days 
many found that their wages had all been taken to pay 
the account, and that little or nothing was coming to 
them. The temptation in this direction was twofold : 
First, the employees improvidently bought many things 
which they would not have purchased had they been 



Labor Legislation. 



287 



obliged to pay in cash at the time of the purchase, and 

they thus exhausted their month's wages. Second, the stores 1 " 1 " 6 

temptation to the employer to charge exorbitant prices 

and thus secure a double profit — first, through the labor, 

and secondly, through the trade of his employees — grew 

to an alarming extent. The result was that these stores 

came to be known as " pluck-me stores," because the 

employee found himself plucked by trading at them. 

To avoid the evils resulting from this truck system 
laws have been passed in many states making it unlawful 
for an employer to pay wages in goods. The legislation La ws against 

r J . , . truck system. 

has not been entirely successful,* but it has been very 
beneficial. The system still exists in mining regions far 
from public stores. Could company stores be run in the 
interest of the purchasers, as they have been many times, 
much benefit would be secured. In one manufacturing 
town in Connecticut a great corporation established a gen- 
eral store for the supply of its people. It made very rigid 
rules fixing the price of all things to be sold, charging 
six per cent in advance of cost. The corporation had the 
advantage of being able to buy at first hands and for cash, 
and therefore at the lowest possible market prices. It 
invariably sold the goods at an advance of six per cent 
on such cost, out of which advance it paid all the expenses 
of the store. It went further, and provided that all profit 
beyond such expenses out of the six per cent advance on 
cost should be used in the establishment and maintenance 
of a library for the sole use of its operatives. Such a 
truck system, of course, would be beneficial, but the dif- 
ficulties, obstacles, and temptations connected with the ^e^ts^ 
whole system render it obnoxious to workingmen every- 
where, and law has stepped in to remove the offense. 
Another very important branch of labor legislation 

* In Illinois it has been declared unconstitutional. 



288 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



which has been common to many states relates to indus- 
trial arbitration. To avoid labor difficulties, such as 
strikes, lockouts, and boycotts, many devices have been 
suggested, but no one of them has as yet proved effectual. 
It is probably impossible to devise any measure which 
will thoroughly prevent strikes ; and it may be that in the 
progress of civilization such complete prevention would 
not be desirable, but any measure which will prove effec- 
tual in reducing the number of controversies and in re- 
ducing their severity must commend itself to the minds of 
all who believe in law and order and in the rights of men. 

Industrial conciliation means the attempt on the part 
of some properly constituted body, either through the 
choice of the parties involved or of the lawmaking power, 
to secure a settlement of grievances preferred by either 
party, employer or employee, and thus prevent an out- 
break or an open declaration of industrial war. Concili- 
ation follows the Pauline plan of adjusting a difficulty 
arising between two members of a church. It is there- 
fore founded on the very highest principles of religion and 
ethics, and wherever attempted succeeds in large meas- 
ure. Arbitration can be operative only after the issue 
is defined between employer and employee ; that is, 
after the difficulty is practically on. Conciliation seeks 
to prevent open war : arbitration seeks to adjust diffi- 
culties after war is declared. 

In France the Conseils de Prud ' hommes, which have 
been in existence for many years, endeavor to conciliate 
employers and employees whenever difficulties arise, and 
their work has been most beneficial. In England there 
are voluntary boards of conciliation and arbitration cre- 
ated by mutual consent, and in those trades where they 
have been created and efforts have been seriously made 
to utilize them very satisfactory results have been secured. 



Labor Legislation. 



289 



In this country conciliation has not come into vogue 
to any great extent until recently, but legislatures have 
seen the necessity of creating state boards of arbitration, 
in order that such boards might be ready at any time 
either to offer their services or to contribute them on invi- 
tation. Fifteen states in the Union have enacted laws Fifteen states 

have laws re- 

looking to the arbitration of labor troubles. So far, lating to arbi- 

& _ ' tration. 

however, in only three or four states, notably New York, 
New Jersey, and Massachusetts, have boards of arbitra- 
tion accomplished much. 

The United States government, by an act approved by Federal laws, 
the president October 1, 1888, committed itself to the 
principle of industrial arbitration on interstate railroads ; 
that is, railroad lines extending from one state to an- 
other and whose traffic is known under the law as inter- 
state commerce. Of course, the federal government has 
no right to legislate relative to the affairs of a state in 
such matters, but under the constitution it has a right to 
regulate commerce between the states, and therefore to 
make the attempt to prevent controversies arising on ac- 
count of such commerce which in any way interfere with 
the peace and the prosperity of the inhabitants of dif- 
ferent states. 

Arbitration is, ot course, ethical, while its broad re- Ethical basis of 
suits may be economical in bearing. It is ethical be- arbltratlon - 
cause under it the relations of man to man and of man 
to society are involved. There are two kinds of arbitra- 
tion, known as voluntary and compulsory arbitration. 
Voluntary arbitration takes place when employer and voluntary arbi- 
employee of their own motion consent to leave the de- tratlon - 
tails of their difficulties to some properly constituted 
board, which board may be the result of their own choice 
or one established by law. To secure the benefits of 
voluntary arbitration requires a very high moral stand- 



29° Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



ard, because there must be, in order to induce men to 
resort to it, a moral recognition of the rights of others. 
Many difficulties have been settled in this country and 
abroad by resort to voluntary arbitration. 

Another feature of this subject lies in the provision of 
Boards may ] aw i n some states for the board of arbitration to tender 

tender services. 

its services to the contending parties. These services 
may be accepted or rejected, but, in most of the cases, 
when rejected the board still has the right to investigate 
all the conditions leading to the difficulties and those 
surrounding it after the break has occurred. In this 
way the public is informed of the circumstances and con- 
ditions surrounding the whole matter. Much good comes 
from this, because if the public can be made aware 
promptly of the causes of a great strike and can ascer- 
tain from official sources just who is responsible for dis- 
turbing the peace by inaugurating a great strike or lock- 
out, sympathy is turned in the proper direction and pub- 
lic opinion, a very powerful judge, settles the matter. 
On the other hand, compulsory arbitration, which ap- 
Compuisory pears to be a contradiction of terms, implies the forcing 
of parties to submit their affairs to a court of arbitration. 
To be effective such court must have all the rights, powers, 
and privileges of a court of law or equity ; that is 
to say, on the petition or complaint of one of the par- 
ties to a labor controversy the court must have the right 
to issue its process summoning the other party into court 
to show cause why the action sought by the petitioner or 
complainant should not be taken. Furthermore, the 
court would have the right, under any system of com- 
pulsory arbitration, to consider all the matters pertaining 
to the difficulty, to come to a conclusion thereon, and to 
enter its judgment ; and after entering its judgment it 
would have the right to enforce it, the same as any court 



Labor Legislation. 



291 



would have the right to enforce its judgment in a suit. 

The difficulties, complications, and embarrassments re- Difficulties of 

£ compulsory- 
Suiting from such a course of procedure would cause arbitration. 

more injury to society than the progress of the contro- 
versy which one of the parties sought to have settled 
arbitrarily. There may be some modifications of the 
doctrine of compulsory arbitration applicable to great 
corporations which have a quasi-public function, like 
railroads, but so far no way by which the rule can be 
applied advantageously has been clearly seen. 

The time is rapidly coming when the community will 
assert its rights to perpetual peace, and so bring to bear 
upon all parties engaged in industry a great moral influ- 
ence which will secure all the benefits of voluntary arbi- 
tration and render the resort to any compulsory measures 
unnecessary. Such time will come only when the power 
of moral forces is recognized as essential in the develop- 
ment and evolution of economic forces. 

There are many other directions in which legislation 
has aided in establishing the status of the wage-earner, 
but the illustrations given are sufficient to show intelli- 
gently the wide range and the deep significance of all 
such enactments and the tendency to the passage of re- 
strictive laws under the modern system of industry, 
while the old restrictive laws of the colonial days have 
entirely or nearly passed out of existence. 

Looking broadly now to the labor legislation as it has 
occurred in this country, it may be well to sum up its 
general features. Such legislation has fixed the hours 
of labor for women and certain minors in manufacturing 
establishments ; it has adjusted the contracts of labor ; 
it has protected employees by insisting that all danger- 
ous machinery, hoistways, etc. , shall be guarded ; it has 
prescribed that fire-escapes in factories and tenement 



292 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



houses shall be erected ; it has prohibited unsafe ele- 
laboMegis^ vators ; it has created boards of factory inspectors, 
lation - whose powers and duties have added much to the health 

and safety of operatives ; it has in many instances pro- 
vided for weekly payments, not only by municipalities, 
but by corporations ; it has guarded the health of 
women employed in manufacturing, mechanical, and 
mercantile establishments by requiring seats for their 
use ; it has regulated the employment of prisoners ; pro- 
tected the employment of children exempted the wages 
of wife and minor children from attachment ; established 
bureaus of statistics of labor ; provided for the ventila- 
tion of factories and workshops ; established industrial 
schools and evening schools ; provided special transpor- 
tation by railroads for workingmen ; modified the com- 
mon-law rules relative to the liability of employers for 
injuries to their employees ; fixed the compensation of 
railroad corporations for negligently causing the death 
of employees, and has provided for their protection 
against accident and death. Under it factory doors can- 
not be locked during working hours ; it has established 
boards of arbitration ; it has regulated, with more or less 
success, the pernicious custom of truck stores, and it 
has prohibited the employment of women and minors in 
manufacturing establishments between the hours of ten 
o'clock at night and six o'clock in the morning. All 
these provisions are not found in the statutes of all the 
states, but they are so general as to entitle them to be 
considered in the body of labor legislation.* 



* Cf. Labor Laws of Massachusetts, Twenty-first Annual Report of the 
Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



LABOR CONTROVERSIES. 



A strike occurs when the employees of an establish- 
ment refuse to work unless the management complies 
with some demand made upon it. A lockout occurs 
when the management refuses to allow the employees to 
work unless they will work under some condition dictated 
by the management and which is opposed by the work- 
men. In effect, strikes and lockouts are practically the 
same thing, the disturbances originating with one side 
or the other in the case and taking their name accord- 
ingly. The strike is not a method belonging exclusively 
to the modern system of industry, for it has occurred at 
various times in the history of the world, wherever the 
relation of employer and employee has existed. In 
ancient times the strike was usually a practical insurrec- 
tion or rebellion, during which many lives were lost and 
sometimes governments overthrown.* Occasionally, 
along through the course of history, labor riots and re- 
volts are chronicled. As a general method, however, for 
enforcing demands and for obtaining redress of real or 
fancied grievances the strike has only recently assumed 
much importance, and only isolated cases are reported in 
our own country before the dawn of the present century. 
The first recourse to the strike in this country occurred 
in 1 741, when a combined strike of journeymen bakers 
occurred in New York City. An information was filed 

* For an account of such insurrections see " The Ancient Lowly," by C. Os- 
borne Ward. Washington, D. C, 1891. 

293 



Strikes. 



Lockouts. 



First strike in 
the United 
States. 



294 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



" Turnout " in 
Philadelphia in 
1796. 



First notable 
strike in this 
century. 



against the strikers for conspiracy not to bake until their 
wages were raised. On this they were tried and con- 
victed, but so far as anything can be learned it does not 
appear that any sentence was ever passed. This strike 
may have occurred in 1740, but reference to it gives the 
year 1741 as that in which the information was preferred 
against the bakers.* 

There was an association of journeymen shoemakers 
in Philadelphia as early as 1792, and in May, 1796, a 
strike, or ' ' turnout, ' ' was ordered by that organization 
for the purpose of securing an increase of wages, in which 
the strikers were successful. Another turnout was or- 
dered by the shoemakers of Philadelphia in 1798. This 
strike was also for an increase of wages, and was success- 
ful. The next year (1799) the shoemakers turned out 
to resist a movement made by the master cordwainers of 
Philadelphia for a reduction of wages. The strike lasted 
about ten weeks and was only partially successful. 

These four strikes are the only ones to which any ref- 
erence can be found that occurred in this country prior to 
the present century. The condition of industry generally 
during the colonial days was not conducive to strikes. 
The factory system had not taken deep root, masters and 
men worked together, and so there was no opportunity 
for concerted action. Where two or three, or perhaps 
half a dozen, men were employed in one shop they were 
in such close relations to the employer and on such neigh- 
borly and domestic terms with him that differences, when 
occurring, were mutually adjusted after an exchange of 
views ; so there was no soil for the growth of the strike. 

The first notable strike in this century occurred in No- 
vember, 1803, in the city of New York, and is commonly 



* See " Trial of the Journeymen Cordwainers of the City of New York. 
New York, 1810. 



Labor Controversies. 



295 



known as the ' ' Sailors' strike. ' ' This strike has been « sailors' 
generally considered the first one occurring in the United first! 6 " notthe 
States, but recent investigations have developed those 
just mentioned. The sailors in New York at the time 
named (November, 1803) had been receiving ten dollars 
per month. They demanded an increase to fourteen dol- 
lars. In carrying out their purpose they formed in a 
body, marched through the city, and compelled other sea- 
men who were employed at the old rates to leave their 
ships and join the strike. The strikers were pursued and 
dispersed by the constables, who arrested their leader 
and lodged him in jail, the strike thus terminating unsuc- 
cessfully.* 

In 1805 the Journeymen Shoemakers' Association of strike in 1805 at 
Philadelphia again turned out for an increase of wages. Phl,adel P hla - 
The demands ranged from twenty-five to seventy-five 
cents per pair increase. This strike lasted six or seven 
weeks, and was unsuccessful. The strikers were tried 
for conspiracy, the result of the trial being published in 
a pamphlet which appeared in i8o6.f 

In 1809 a strike among the cordwainers occurred in In l8o9 at New 
the city of New York. The proprietors quietly took York ' 
their work to other shops, and by this stratagem defeated 
the strikers ; but the action being discovered, a general 
turnout was ordered by the Journeymen Cordwainers' 
Association against all the master workmen of the city, 
nearly two hundred men being engaged in the strike. 
This general turnout was in November, 1809. At that 
time a stoppage of work in one shop by the journeymen 



* Report of the Bureau of Statistics of New Jersey, 1885. See also J. B. Mc- 
Master : " History of the People of the United States," Vol. II. Mr. McMaster 
states that the strike occurred in October, 1802. It is believed, however, that 
the date given in the text is the correct one. 

t Lloyd : "Trial of the Boot and Shoemakers of Philadelphia." The re- 
port of this famous trial can be found in the United States Supreme Court 
Library. 



296 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



was called a ' ' strike " ; a general stoppage in all shops 
in a trade was known as a ' ' general turnout. ' ' A mem- 
ber of a journeymen's association who did not keep his 
obligations to the organization was denominated a 
"scab."* 

In 1815 some of the journeymen cordwainers of Pitts- 
Pittsburg burg, Pa. , were tried for conspiracy on account of their 
connection with a strike, and were convicted. 

In 181 7 a peculiar labor difficulty occurred at Med- 
ford'M^ss 1 ^^" ford > Mass - Thacher Magoun, a shipbuilder of that 
town, determined to abolish the grog privilege customary 
at that time. Mr. Magoun gave notice to his people 
that no liquor should be used in his shipyard, and the 
words ' ' No rum / no rum ! ' ' were written on the clap- 
boards of the workshop and on the timbers in the yard. 
Some of Mr. Magoun' s men refused to work, but they 
finally surrendered, and a ship was built without the use 
of liquor in any form.f 
Fromi82ito The period from 1821 to 1834 witnessed several 
l834- strikes, but rarely more than one or two in each year. 

These strikes occurred among the compositors, hatters, 
ship carpenters and calkers, journeymen tailors, laborers 
on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the building trades, 
factory workers, shoemakers, and others. One of the 
most notable of these, for its influence upon succeeding 
labor movements, occurred in 1834, in the city of Lynn, 
Mass. During the latter part of the preceding year the 
female shoebinders of that town began to agitate the 
question of an increase of wages. The women engaged 
in this work usually took the material to their homes. 
The manufacturers were unwilling to increase the prices 
paid ; so a meeting for consultation was held by more 

* The People vs. Melvin and others, Wheeler's " Criminal Cases," Vol. II. 
•f- McNeill : " The Labor Movement." 



Labor Controversies. 



297 



than one thousand binders. This was January 1, 1834. 
The binders resolved to take out no more work unless 
the increase was granted. The employers, however, 
steadily refused to accede to the demands, and finding 
no difficulty in having their work done in neighboring 
towns at their own prices, the strike, after three or four 
weeks, came to an unsuccessful termination. 

In February of the same year a disturbance of short 
duration occurred at Lowell, Mass., among the female 
factory operatives. Their strike was to prevent a reduc- 
tion of wages. 

During the year 1835 there was a large number of 
strikes throughout the country, instigated by both men 
and women. The number of strikes by employees who 
desired some concessions regarding their wages or were 
otherwise dissatisfied with the conditions under which 
they were working had at this time become so numerous 
as to call forth remonstrant comments from the public 
press, the New York Daily Advertiser of June 6, 1835, 
declaring that " strikes are all the fashion," and, further, 
"It is an excellent time for the journeymen to come 
from the country to this city. " From that period (1835) 
to the present time strikes have been common, often ex- 
pensive, and sometimes destructive of much property. 

A detailed account of strikes is not necessary to illus- 
trate the general tendency. As a rule, they have been 
for an increase or against a reduction of wages. An in- 
vestigation conducted by the United States Department 
of Labor of all strikes occurring in the country from 1881 
to 1886, inclusive (six years), shows that during that 
period 3,902 strikes occurred, affecting 22,304 establish- 
ments, the whole number of employees striking and in- 
volved in these disturbances being 1,323, 203. In the year 
1880, as shown by Mr. Joseph D. Weeks, in his excellent 



Increase of 
strikes after 
1835. 



Strikes from 
1880 to 1887. 



298 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



report to the United States census for that year, there were 
610 strikes, the estimated number of establishments in- 

strikesin 1887. volved being 3,477. In 1887, the year after the investi- 
gation by the United States Department of Labor re- 
ferred to, according to information gathered from trade 
papers, etc., there were 853 strikes, the number of 
establishments involved being estimated at 4,862. 

Taking these accounts for the years from 1880 to 1887, 
we find that in the first year named 3,477 establishments 
were affected by strikes, and that the number dropped 
in 1 88 1 to 2,928, and to a still lower point in 1882, when 
the whole number of establishments affected was but 
2,105. ^ n : 883 the number rose again, coming very 
near that of 1881, or 2,759. In 1884 there was a de- 
crease, the number being 2,367, while in 1885 the num- 
ber of establishments subjected to strikes was smaller 
than in any of the years named except 1882, it being in 
1885 2,284. Eighteen hundred and eighty-six, how- 
ever, was a prolific year, the whole number of establish- 
ments affected by strikes being 9,861. The next year 
there was a decrease to about 5,000. The best informa- 

^T8 n 86 ng " P ° int tion shows that the year 1886 was a turning-point for 
several years. The figures are not at hand, but the best 
estimates and calculations made from various reports in- 
dicate that the number of establishments affected by 
strikes constantly decreased until within two years, dur- 
ing which time they have been rapidly on the increase. 
Official investigations now going on will determine the 
number. During the period from 1 881 to 1886 the num- 
ber of establishments involved, either by strikes or lock- 
outs, was highest in the states of New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Illinois, these five states 
contributing nearly 75 per cent of all the establishments 
in the country affected by strikes and nearly 89.5 per 



Labor Controversies. 



299 



cent of all the establishments in the country affected by 
lockouts. These five states, at the period named, con- 
tained nearly 50 per cent of all the manufacturing estab- 
lishments and employed 58 per cent of all the capital in- 
vested in the mechanical industries of the United States. 

Some of the most noted strikes which have occurred in 
this country have had great influence upon economic af- JjJ^J strikes 
fairs, in the organization of laborers, in calling attention 
to the relations of employers and employees, and in 
various other directions. During the period from 1881 
to 1886, as has been stated, 1,323,203 employees were 
involved. Of this number 88.42 per cent were males and 
11.58 per cent females. The number of successful strikes 
during that period was 46.52 per cent, while 39.95 per 
cent failed, and 13.47 per cent succeeded partially. A 
large number of the strikes and lockouts occurring dur- 
ing the years named were by organizations, the percent- 
age being- 82.24 of the whole. The causes for which Causes of 

majority of 

strikes were undertaken were mostly for an increase or strikes, 
against a reduction of wages, four leading causes cover- 
ing over 77 per cent of them all. These were for in- 
crease of wages, for reduction of hours, against reduction 
of wages, and for increase of wages and reduction of 
hours. 

The losses in strikes are enormous, as shown by the _ 

J Losses by 

record of those to which reference has been made, when strikes, 
the strikers alone lost $51,814,723. The loss to em- 
ployees through lockouts for the same time was $8, 1 57,- 
717, making a total wage loss of nearly $60,000,000; 
the employers' losses for the same strikes and lockouts 
were over $34,000,000 — a series of disturbances repre- 
senting a loss of over $94,000,000 in a brief period of 
six years. No statement could more thoroughly exhibit 
the wastefulness of a method than do these figures. But 



300 Industrial Evolution of the U?iited States. 



no facts can ever be ascertained and no estimate formed 
General losses concerning the losses to individuals indirectly related to 

not ascertain- ° J 

able - establishments in which strikes or lockouts have occurred. 

Their indirect effect on the great commercial interests of 
the country can be referred to only in general terms. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Railroad 



Causes. 



HISTORIC STRIKES. 

Since 1877 some historic strikes have occurred — 
strikes from which influences have been felt in various di- 
rections and far beyond the parties engaged in the par- 
ticular controversies. 

The first of these great historic strikes occurred in 
1877, although many very severe strikes had taken place stnkes of l8 77- 
prior to that year. The great railroad strikes of 1877 
began on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Martins- m re h and a ohio. 
burgh, W. Va. , the immediate cause of the first strike 
being a ten per cent reduction in the wages of all employ- 
ees. This, however, was but one of many grievances. The 
wages, already low, were made yet lower by irregular 
employment. Men with families were permitted to work 
only three or four days per week, and two or three days 
each week they were forced to spend away from home, 
at their own expense, often being obliged to pay one 
dollar per day for board at the company's hotel, leaving 
them but little money for domestic use. The wages, 
payable monthly, were often retained two, three, or even 
four months. The tonnage of trains was increased, and 
the men were paid only for the number of miles run, ir- 
respective of the time consumed in running. In most 
instances the strike affected only the freight trains. 
There was rioting, destruction of property, and loss of 
life at Martinsburgh, Baltimore, and various places in 
Pennsylvania. The state militia at Martinsburgh and 

301 



302 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



The great 
strike at Pitts- 
burg in 1877 on 
the Pennsyl- 
vania. 



Events leading 
to it. 



Pittsburg, sympathizing with the strikers, affiliated with 
them and refused to fire upon them. The United States 
troops were promptly ordered from the eastern garrisons, 
and on their appearance the mobs fled. In Cincinnati, 
Toledo, and St. Louis mobs of roughs and tramps col- 
lected and succeeded in closing most of the shops, fac- 
tories, and rolling-mills in those cities. In Chicago the 
communists made formidable demonstrations. In those 
places, and in Syracuse, Buffalo, West Albany, and Hor- 
nellsville, N. Y., the mobs were dispersed by the state 
militia without violence or destruction of property. 

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also had a mem- 
orable strike accompanied by riots and much violence 
and destruction of property. Some time after the panic 
of 1873 this road reduced the wages of its employees 
ten per cent, and on account of the general decline in 
business made another reduction of ten per cent in June, 
1877. The employees of the different roads having 
their termini at Pittsburg commenced agitating the ques- 
tion of a strike on account of these reductions, which 
agitation resulted in the formation of a "Trainmen's 
Union." Through the agency of this organization a 
general strike was arranged to take place at noon on 
June 27, 1 877, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Pitts- 
burg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, the Allegheny 
Valley Railroad, the Pan Handle Railroad, and the 
branches of these roads. The movements of the gen- 
eral strike were to be directed from Allegheny City. On 
the 24th of June about forty members of the union were 
sent out to notify others on the different roads of the 
time when the strike was to take place, and on the night 
of June 25, at a meeting of the members of the union 
of the Pan Handle division, it was developed that a por- 
tion of them were dissatisfied with the proposed strike, 



Historic Strikes. 



and also that some member or members had divulged 
the plans of the union to the railroad authorities. In 
view of these facts, measures were at once taken to pre- 
vent the strike, word being sent to all points possible to 
be reached in the short time left. 

The members of the union felt that they had met 
with defeat, and this left them very much dissatisfied. 
But the great strike of July 19, at Pittsburg, was not a special 
strike of the Trainmen's Union, nor did this union, as 
an organization, have anything to do with either that 
strike or the one of July 16, on the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad, at Martinsburgh. Early in July the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad issued an order that all freight trains from 
Pittsburg east to Derry should be run as ' ' double-head- 
ers," the order to take effect July 19. A ''double- 
header" consists of thirty-four cars, and is hauled by 
two engines, a plan which had the effect of enabling the 
company to dispense with the services of one half of 
their freight conductors, brakemen, and flagmen on the 
Pittsburg division of the road. On the morning of July 19 
several early trains left Pittsburg as "double-headers," 
but when the time arrived for the 8 40 a. m. train to leave, 
the men, consisting of two brakemen and one flagman, 
refused to go out on a ' 4 double-header, ' ' and the train ^douW 
did not leave the yard. The dispatcher made up two headers 
crews from the yardmen, as none of the regular trainmen 
would take their places, but the strikers threw coupling- 
pins, etc., at these men as they were endeavoring to 
make up the train, and so they were forced to desist. 
The strikers numbered only twenty or twenty-five men, 
but they took possession of the switches over which the 
trains would have to move, and refused to let any trains 
pass out. Their numbers increased gradually, men who 
came in on freight trains and others being induced to 



304 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



join the strikers. By midnight of the 19th the crowd of 
strikers and sympathizers had increased to several 
hundreds. 

The story of this great strike is a long one. The 
sheriff of the county could not persuade the crowd to 
disperse, and the governor of the state of Pennsylvania 
was called upon for troops, the military authorities sending 
three regiments of infantry and a battery of artillery to 
Pittsburg. The strikers increased in number, mobs gath- 
Rioting and ered, and it is estimated that on the 20th there were four 

violence. 

or five thousand men in the vicinity of the station. Here 
were all the elements for a disastrous experience. On 
the 21st rioting began, and while the troops were get- 
ting into position many of the guns of the militia were 
seized and bayonets twisted off. The troops made no 
impression upon the crowd. The mob grew more noisy, 
defiant, and boisterous, and stones and other missiles 
were thrown at the troops. Pistol shots were fired by 
the crowd and the troops fired on the mob. Several 
persons were killed and wounded, inquests being held on 
twenty-two persons in all, most of whom were killed by 
the soldiers at Twenty- eighth Street. The firing, when 
it became regular, dispersed the crowd, which fled in all 
directions and left the troops in possession of the ground. 
Attempts to But after a few hours, all attempts to move trains being 
abandoned, abandoned and the troops needing rest and food, the 
mob came together again, and having obtained arms by 
breaking into two or three gun stores, began, soon after 
dark, to fire upon the roundhouse and machine-shops 
and in at the windows at any soldiers who might be 
inside, and later, fire was set to cars on the adjoining 
tracks, the mob running the burning cars down the track 
nearest the roundhouse, to set it on fire, if possible. 
On the morning of the 2 2d of July the mob obtained 



Historic Strikes. 



305 



possession of a field-piece and was ready to fire on the 
roundhouse, but the military officers notified the strikers 
that if they attempted to discharge the piece they would 
be fired upon in turn. They paid no attention to the 
warning, and when one of them was seen with the 
lanyard in his hand, ready to discharge the cannon, they 
were fired upon by the troops, and several of the mob 
fell, the rest dispersing. Later Gatling guns were UseofGatiing 
brought into action, and the sight of them scattered the 
mob. These attacks and counter attacks, the gathering 
and dispersing of the mob, and the firing of trains were 
kept up until Monday, the 22d, as stated, when two 
regiments were marched through the principal streets of 
the city of Pittsburg for the purpose of overawing any 
disposition toward riotous conduct which might still ex- 
ist. A citizens' committee was also organized during Citizens' 
the previous Sunday, and this committee exerted con- commlttee - 
siderable influence in quelling disturbances. Neverthe- 
less, cars were set on fire and attempts were made to 
fire the station ; but members of the citizens' safety com- 
mittee interfered and put a stop to the destruction. This 
was about the last attempt at violence at Pittsburg, 
although it was several days before order was fully re- 
stored. 

From the very beginning of the strike the strikers had 
the active sympathy of a vast proportion of the people 
of Pittsburg. About 1,600 cars (mostly freight), in- Damages 
eluding passenger and baggage cars, with such of their strike! 
contents as were not carried away by thieves, 126 loco- 
motives, and all the shops' materials and buildings, ex- 
cept one or two small ones, of the railroad company, 
from above Twenty-eighth Street to the union station, 
were burned on Saturday night and Sunday. The tracks 
from the union station, out to and beyond Twenty- 



306 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



eighth Street, were nearly all ruined by fire, the rails be- 
ing warped and twisted and the ties burned. It has been 
estimated by competent persons that the damage, in- 
cluding loss of property and loss of business consequent 
upon its interruption, which was inflicted by the mob at 

Loss of railroad Pittsburg amounted to $5,000,000. The actual loss of 
the railroad company alone, not including the freight 
they were transporting, has been estimated at $2,000,- 
000. It is impossible to state the number of men thrown 
out of employment, in the aggregate, by these strikes, 
nor the total value of the property destroyed through 
the resulting riots, but the chief of the Bureau of Indus- 
trial Statistics of Pennsylvania, in his report for 1880-81, 
makes the following statement concerning the cost of the 
Pittsburg riot : Total amount of claims as presented to 
Allegheny County, the courts having decreed that that 
county was liable for all the losses sustained through the 
riots, $3,592,789.33 ; total amount actually paid by com- 
promise and judgments at the date of the report named, 
$2,765,891.89. 

The whole country was greatly excited during and after 
these strikes. The question was constantly asked, How 
can such affairs be prevented or the causes leading to 
them removed ? They were both unsuccessful. 

The next great strike was that of the telegraphers, 

S?ikf r of 1883.' which occurred in the year 1883. There were involved 
in this strike the majority of the commercial telegraph 
operators of the entire country. It extended to the line- 
men of the commercial companies, and then to a few 
railroad operators ; but the information relative to the 
facts is meager. This strike took place to secure the 
abolition of Sunday work without extra pay, the reduc- 
tion of day turns to eight hours, and the equalization of 
pay between the sexes for the same work. The opera- 



Historic Strikes. 



tors also demanded a universal increase of wages. The 
strike commenced July 19 and ended August 23, 1883, 
although it was declared off on the 17th of August. It 
was unsuccessful, the loss to employees being $250,000, Not successful, 
while they expended $62,000 in assistance to destitute 
fellow-operators. The employers lost nearly $1,000,000. 
The whole number of persons involved in the strike was 
6,270. One of the companies made a provisional agree- 
ment with the Brotherhood of Telegraphers, and in ac- 
cordance therewith resumed business. As the other com- 
panies were resisting the strike, the company which made 
this agreement secured a handsome profit on account of 
the increased volume of business brought to it. 

Another of what have been called "historic" strikes strike on 
was that on the Southwestern or Gould system of rail- 1885-6. system ' 
ways, which occurred in the years 1885-86. The first 
of the strikes on this system took place in March, 1885. 
At this time and during the months preceding, the shop- 
men on the Missouri Pacific Railroad in Missouri, Kan- 
sas, and Texas became very much dissatisfied with the 
wages they were receiving, and about March 9 nearly 
four thousand of them struck for a restoration of the 
wages paid the preceding September, since which date 
reductions amounting in the aggregate to from ten to fif- 
teen per cent had taken place. The strike was begun at 
Sedalia, Mo., March 7, 1885, and in two days became 
general all over the system, and during its continuance 
freight traffic was virtually suspended. The strike came enf of ltnke nd 
to an end, however, on the 16th of March, 1885, at ten 
o'clock in the evening, and on the next day, the 
17th, work was generally resumed. This result was 
brought about very largely through the efforts of the 
governors of Missouri and Kansas and other state officials 
upon this basis : ' ' The company agreed to restore to its 



30S Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Basis of settle- 
ment. 



Second strike 
on Gould 
svstem, 1SS6. 



Causes 
therefor. 



striking employees . . . the same wages paid them 
in September, 18S4. including one and one half price for 
extra time work, and to restore all of said employees to 
their several employments without prejudice to them on 
account of the strike." The company, on its part, also 
agreed, and voluntarily, that 1 1 hereafter said rates will 
not be changed except after thirty days' notice thereof, 
given in the usual way."' The strikers in this affair very 
generally had the sympathy and moral support of the 
public, for it was conceded on all sides, with few excep- 
tions, that the employees had justice and right with them. 
This concession was because of the fact that the reduc- 
tions of wages complained of were made at times when 
there was no corresponding decrease in the business or 
earnings of the company. 

The second strike on the Gould system took place in 
March, 18S6, a year later than that just recited. The 
trouble began at Marshall, Texas, on the Texas and Pa- 
cific Railroad, and grew out of the discharge of the fore- 
man for alleged incompetency. This foreman was prom- 
inent in the local assembly of the Knights of Labor, 
which order subsequently inaugurated the great railroad 
strike, the discharge of the foreman being the alleged 
cause. The claim was made that the discharge of the 
foreman in this way was in violation of the agreement of 
March, 18S5, made at the settlement of the strike through 
the influence of the governors of Missouri and Kansas, 
as just stated. Other violations were also claimed. Dur- 
ing the entire month of March all freight traffic was vir- 
tually suspended on the roads involved, and about ten 
thousand men were out of work, nearly all being strikers. 
On March 28 the strike was declared off, and the hope 
was entertained that negotiations would be perfected be- 
tween the officers of the roads and the representatives of 



Historic Strikes. 309 



the employees ; but the railroad officials declined to treat 
with the men, except individually, and on the 5th of 
April the order declaring the strike at an end was re- 
voked. The backbone of the strike was broken by that 
time, however, and traffic was resumed, but under police 
protection for a time. Many of the men had returned to Disastrous 

r t J result of strike 

work, while new men in sufficient numbers to carry on of l886 - 
the traffic assumed the places of those who were still out. 
While the strike of March, 1885, was, as stated, gener- 
ally considered to be a just one, that of March, 1886, 
was regarded as ill judged, no adequate cause existing 
therefor. The disastrous result and the lack of public 
sympathy displayed for the strikers bring the two strikes 
into sharp contrast. 

At Homestead, Pa., in July, 1892, there occurred a 
most serious affair between the Carnegie Steel Company strike, 1892. 
and its employees, at what is known as the Homestead 
works, growing out of a disagreement in the previous 
month in regard to wages. The parties were unable to 
come to an agreement that was mutually satisfactory, 
and the company closed its works on the 30th day of 
June and discharged its men. Only a small portion 
of the men were affected by the proposed adjustment of 
wages. The larger portion of them, who were mem- 
bers of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel 
Workers, were not affected at all, nor was the large force 
of employees, some three thousand in number, who 
were not members of that association. The company 
refused to recognize the Amalgamated Association of 
Iron and Steel Workers as an organization, or to hold 
any conference with its representatives. Upon the fail- 
ure to arrive at an adjustment of the wage difficulty, the Failu to 
company proposed to operate its works by the employ- ™ a Jj t e an adjust- 
ment of non-union men. The men, who could not se- 



310 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Men refused 
reduction in 
wages. 



Action of 
company. 



Men offered t 
act as deputi 



Immediate 
cause of the 
fighting. 



cure recognition, refused to accept the reduced rates of 
wages and also came to the determination that they 
would resist the company in every attempt to secure 
non-union workers. 

The history of the events at Homestead shows that 
the lodges composing the Amalgamated Association pro- 
ceeded to organize what was styled an ' ' advisory com- 
mittee," to take charge of affairs for the strikers. All 
employees of the company were directed to break their 
contracts and to refuse to work until the Amalgamated 
Association was recognized and its terms agreed to. 

The works were shut down two days prior to the time 
provided by the contract under which the men were 
working, and, as alleged, because the workmen had seen 
fit to hang the president of the company in effigy. July 
5 the officers of the company asked the sheriff of the 
county to appoint deputies to protect the works while 
they carried out their intention of making repairs. The 
employees, on their part, organized to defend the works 
against what they called encroachments or demands to 
enter ; in fact, they took possession of the Homestead 
steel works. When the sheriff's men approached, the 
workmen, who were assembled in force, notified them to 
leave the place, as they did not intend to create any dis- 
order, and that they would not allow any damage to be 
done to the property of the company. They further 
offered to act as deputies, an offer which was declined. 
The advisory committee, which had been able to pre- 
serve the peace thus far, dissolved on the rejection of 
their offer to serve as deputies and conservators of the 
peace, and all of their records were destroyed. 

.The immediate cause of the fighting which later on 
took place at Homestead was the approach of a body of 
Pinkerton detectives, who were gathered in two barges 



Historic Strikes. 



on the Ohio River, some miles below the works. When 
the Pinkertons arrived the workmen broke through 
the mill fence, intrenching themselves behind steel 
billets, and made all preparations to resist the approach 
of the Pinkerton barges, and they resisted all attempts 
to land, the result being a fierce battle, brought on 
by a heavy volley of shots from the strikers. The 
Pinkertons were armed with Winchesters, but they were 
obliged to land and ascend the embankment single file, 
and so were soon driven back to the boats, suffering se- 
verely from the fire by the strikers. Many efforts were 
made to land, but the position of the men they were at- 
tacking, behind their breastworks of steel rails and bil- 
lets, was very strong, and from this place of safe refuge 
the detectives were subjected to a galling fire. This 
opening battle took place on the 5th of July, about four 
o'clock in the morning, and was continued in a desul- 
tory way during the day. It was renewed the following 
day. A brass ten-pound cannon had been secured by Use of cannon, 
the strikers and planted so as to command the barges 
moored at the banks of the river. Another force of one 
thousand men had taken up a position on the opposite 
side of the river, where they protected themselves, and 
a cannon which they had obtained, by a breastwork of 
railroad ties. A little before nine o'clock a bombard- 
ment commenced, the cannon being turned on the boats, 
and the firing was kept up for several hours. The boats 
were protected by heavy steel plates inside ; so efforts burn boats used 
were made to fire them. Hose was procured and oil by detectlves< 
sprayed on the decks and sides, and at the same time 
many barrels of oil were emptied into the river above 
the mooring-place, the purpose being to ignite it and 
then allow it to float against the boats. Under these 
combined movements, the Pinkertons were obliged to 



312 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Pinkertons throw out a flag of truce, but it was not recognized by 
surrender. the strikers. The officers of the Amalgamated Associ- 
ation, however, interfered, and a surrender of the de- 
tectives was arranged. It was agreed that they should 
be safely guarded, under condition that they left their 
arms and ammunition, and having no alternative, they 
accepted the terms. Seven had been killed and twenty 
or thirty wounded. 

On the ioth of July, after several days' correspond- 
Homestead. ence with the state authorities, the governor sent the en- 
tire force of the militia of the state to Homestead. On the 
1 2th the troops arrived, the town was placed under mar- 
tial law, and order was restored. There had been much 
looting, clubbing, and stoning, and as the detectives, 
after surrender, passed through the streets they were 
treated with great abuse. Eleven workmen and specta- 
tors were killed in the fights. 

Congress made an investigation of this strike, but no 
legislative action was ever taken. Some indictments 
were made and lawsuits ensued. The mills were gradu- 
ally supplied with new people, but the strike was not de- 
clared off until November 20, 1892.* 

The Homestead strike must be considered as the 
bitterest labor war occurring in this country prior to 
that which took place at Chicago later on, in 1894. 

* A brief but very excellent account of this strike can be found in Appleton's 
"Annual Cyclopedia," 1892, and a more extended account appears in the report 
of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Industrial Statistics for 1892. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



THE CHICAGO STRIKE, 1 894. BOYCOTTS. 

Probably the most expensive and far-reaching labor The Chjca q 
controversy which can properly be classed among the strike of 1894. 
historic controversies of this generation was the Chicago 
strike of June and July, 1894. Beginning with a private 
strike at the works of Pullman's Palace Car Company at 
Pullman, a suburb of Chicago, it ended with a practical 
insurrection of the labor employed on the principal rail- 
roads radiating from Chicago and some of their affiliated 
lines, paralyzing internal commerce, putting the public 
to great inconvenience, delaying the mails, and in gen- 
eral demoralizing business. Its influences were felt all 
over the country, to greater or less extent, according to 
the lines of traffic and the courses of trade. The con- 
test was not limited to the parties with whom it originated, 
for soon there were brought into it two other factors or 
forces. 

The original strike grew out of a demand of certain . . 

& & . Origin of the 

employees of the Pullman Company, in May, 1894, for strike, 
a restoration of the wages paid during the previous year. 
The company claimed that the reduction in the volume 
of business, owing to business depression, did not warrant 
the payment of the old wages. On account of the increased 
production of rolling-stock to meet the traffic incident to 
the World's Fair in 1893, orders for building new cars 
were not easily obtainable, a large portion of the busi- 
ness of the Pullman Company being contract business in 

313 



314 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Grievances 
claimed by 



Boycott of 
Pullman cars. 



Railway 

Managers' 

Association. 



the way of building cars for railroad companies gener- 
ally. This state of affairs resulted in a partial cessation 
of car-building everywhere in the country, the Pullman 
Company suffering with all others. The demand of the 
employees, therefore, was not acceded to, and on May 
11, 1894, a strike was ordered. Several minor griev- 
ances were claimed to have existed and to have led to 
the action of the strikers, who had joined the American 
Railway Union, an association of railway employees 
which had achieved a partial success in a contest with the 
Great Northern Railroad a few weeks previous to the 
Pullman strike. The Railway Union espoused the cause 
of the Pullman employees on the ground that they were 
members thereof. This union numbered, as alleged, 
about 150,000 members. ' It undertook to force the 
Pullman Company to accede to the demands of its em- 
ployees by boycotting Pullman cars ; that is to say, they 
declared that they would not handle Pullman cars on the 
railroads where such cars were used unless the Pullman 
Company would accede to the demands made upon it. 
The immediate antagonist of the Pullman Company in 
the extended controversy was, therefore, the American 
Railway Union. 

Another force was soon involved in the strike, which 
was, very naturally, an ally of the Pullman Company. 
This was the General Managers' Association, a body of 
railroad men representing all the roads radiating from 
Chicago, and it was through the necessity of protecting 
the traffic of its lines, as claimed, that it made its contest 
with the American Railway Union. These roads repre- 
sented a combined capital of more than $2,000,000,000, 
and they employed more than one fourth of all the rail- 
road employees in the United States. These three great 
forces, therefore, were enlisted in a strife for supremacy, 



The Chicago Strike ; 1894. — Boycotts. 315 



and they alone, without reference to the conditions and 
circumstances attending the strike or accompanying it, 
constitute it one of the historic strikes of this age.* 

According to the testimony of the officials of the rail- 
roads involved, they lost in property destroyed, hire of 
United States deputy marshals, and other incidental ex- strike, 
penses, at least $685,308. The loss of earnings of these 
roads on account of the strike is estimated at nearly 
$5,000,000. About 3, 100 employees at Pullman lost in 
wages, as estimated, probably $350,000. About 100,000 
employees upon the twenty-four railroads radiating from 
Chicago, all of which were more or less involved in the 
strike, lost in wages, as estimated, nearly $1,400,000. 
Beyond these amounts very great losses, widely distrib- 
uted, were suffered incidentally throughout the country. 
The suspension of transportation at Chicago paralyzed a 
vast distributive center, and imposed many hardships 
and much loss upon the great number of people whose 
manufacturing and business operations, employment, 
travel, and necessary supplies depend upon and demand 
regular transportation service to, from, and through Chi- 
cago. The losses to the country at large are estimated Lossestothe 
by Bradstreet's to be in the vicinity of $80,000,000. countr y- 
Whatever they are, whether more or less, they teach the 
lesson of the necessity of preventing such disasters, and 
the strike illustrates how a small local disturbance, aris- 
ing from the complaints of a few people, can result in in- 
volving so much of a large country. When the Ameri- 
can Railway Union took up the cudgel for the Pullman 
strikers and declared their boycott as against Pullman 
cars, and the General Managers' Association took every 
means to protect their interests and prevent the stoppage 



* For an extended account of this strike see the report of the United States 
Strike Commission (Senate Ex. Doc. No. 7, 53d Congress, 3d Session). 



316 Industrial Evolution of the U?iited States. 



Object of 
United States 
troops at 
Chicago. 



Responsibility 
belongs- to each 
party. 



of transportation, the sympathies and antagonisms of the 
whole country were aroused. The attempt was made to 
induce all trades in Chicago to join in a great sympathetic 
strike, but this attempt was not successful. 

The inevitable accompaniments of a great strike were 
brought into play at Chicago. Riots, intimidations, as- 
saults, murder, arson, and burglary, with lesser crimes, 
attended the strike. In this, as in some of the other his- 
toric strikes, troops were engaged. The city police, the 
county sheriffs, the state militia, United States deputy 
marshals, and regulars from the United States army were 
all brought into the controversy. The United States 
troops were sent to Chicago to protect federal property 
and to prevent obstruction in the carrying of the mails, 
to prevent interference with interstate commerce, and to 
enforce the decrees and mandates of the federal courts. 
They took no part in any attempt to suppress the strike, 
nor could they, as such matters belong to the city and 
state authorities. The police of the city were used to 
suppress riots and protect the property of citizens, and 
the state militia was called in for the same service. The 
total of these forces employed during the continuance of 
the strike was 14,186. 

Many indictments have grown out of the difficulties 
occurring at Chicago, and the courts are at the time of 
writing considering the cases. But all the attending cir- 
cumstances of the strike point to one conclusion — that a 
share of the responsibility for bringing it on belongs in 
some degree to each and every party involved. The 
strike generated a vast deal of bitter feeling — so bitter 
that neither party was ready to consider the rights of the 
other. The attacking parties claimed that their griev- 
ances warranted them in adopting any means in their 
power to force concessions. This is the attitude of all 



The Chicago Strike, 1894. — Boycotts. 



317 



strikes. The other parties, on the other hand, claimed 

that they were justified in adopting any means in their 

power to resist the demands of the attacking party. The 

probability is that neither recognized the rights of the 

public to such an extent as to induce them to forbear 

bringing inconvenience and disturbance to it. It was the 

most suggestive strike that has ever occurred in this Chicago strike. 

country, and if it only proves a lesson sufficiently severe 

to teach the public its rights in such matters and to teach 

it to adopt measures to preserve those rights, it will be 

worth all it has cost. This, perhaps, is the lesson of all 

the strikes that have been called ' ' historic." This is not 

the place to discuss the merits of any of them or of the 

claims of either or any of the parties to them. 

Other great strikes have occurred which, considered other great 
with those that have been described, constitute 1894 the stnkes - 
era of vast labor controversies. The Lehigh Valley 
Railroad strike, which occurred in December, 1893 ; 
the American Railway Union strike on the Great North- 
ern Railroad, which occurred in April, 1894 ; the great 
coal strike, which occurred in the same month, and the 
Chicago strike of June and July, all crowded into the 
space of seven months, are sufficient to make that brief 
period memorable, and they all call emphatic attention 
to the necessity of some sane method of preventing 
like occurrences, or at least of reducing their number 
and their severity. The lessons have been expensive, 
the losses great, the demoralization certain, the bitter- 
ness intensified, but out of all this comes the great moral 
lesson that there must be found a way to deal with such 
affairs without the presence of the sheriff and all that the 
sheriff stands for. This work deals with history, not 
with philosophy ; with the growth and development of 
industries and their accompanying conditions, not with 



318 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



political economy, nor with remedies for bad conditions, 
and so the discussion of alleged solutions must be avoided. 
Strikes and lockouts, as already stated, are similar in 
Boycotts • their character. There is another weapon used in labor 

origin of them. 1 

controversies, known as the "boycott." This term was 
coined from the name of one Captain Boycott, an agent in 
Ireland of Lord Erne's Lough Mask estate, who in 1880 
evicted a large number of tenants. The tenants, with 
their neighbors, refused all further intercourse with Cap- 
tain Boycott and his family, and declined to work for 
him or trade with him, or to allow any one else to do 
so.* So now, when there is any organized attempt to 
coerce a person into compliance with any demand, 
through a combination pledged to abstain, and pledged 
further to compel others to abstain, from having social 
intercourse with him or to trade with him, or there is an 
organized persecution of any person or company, to be 
used as a means of coercion or intimidation or of retali- 
ation for some act, or there is an organized refusal to act 
in any particular way, such action, in any of these cases, 
is called a ' ' boycott ' ' ; that is to say, the person or 
party against whom any of these actions is directed is 
put into the position in which Captain Boycott found 
himself. 

It is only the name in this connection which is of re- 
Boycott old in cent origin. The process is very old, for whenever, for 

principle. ° 1 J 

any purpose, a number of persons by agreement decide 
to let another severely alone in order to bring him to 
terms, that person has been boycotted ; but the method 
has often been considered an evidence of the loftiest 
patriotism. It all depends upon the cause and upon the 
popular estimate of the cause. The tea episode in Bos- 
ton Harbor and the efforts of the colonists, through their 

* Johnson's "Universal Cyclopedia." 



The Chicago Strike, 1894.. — Boycotts. 319 



pledges, to prevent the importation of foreign goods and 
thereby force the consumption of home-made goods, are [{Jfboycot^ 
instances of the boycott. As Dr. Ely, in his work, " The 
Labor Movement in America, ' ' remarks : ' ' The boycott 
has been employed against obnoxious individuals from 
time immemorial. In 1327 the citizens of Canterbury, 
England, boycotted the monks of Christ's Church, meet- 
ing in an open field, and passing these resolutions among 
others : ' That no one, under penalties to be imposed 
by the city, should inhabit the prior's houses ; that no 
one should buy, sell, or exchange drinks or victuals with 
the monastery, under similar penalties.' " 

The abolitionists boycotted slave-made products ; the 
temperance people have used the same method to re- 
press the liquor nuisance ; the pulpit has tried hard to 
boycott Sunday newspapers, and recently there has been 
established in the city of New York a society, consisting 
of women occupying excellent social positions, pledged 
not to purchase goods of houses which do not furnish 
proper conveniences for their saleswomen. Railroad 
companies have boycotted their men time and time 
again ; working people have boycotted railroads, deal- 
ers, and manufacturers ; railroads combine and boycott 
other railroads ; and so the method has grown to be a 
familiar one with all classes, and one that is used in 
various ways. When the boycott is carried to a certain 
extent or the combination seeking it amounts to a con- boycott^ 
spiracy to unlawfully prevent or restrain another, or to 
accomplish any unlawful purpose, it becomes a criminal 
offense, and is actionable. Many states have enacted 
laws relating to it ; but these laws practically admit, by 
their very language, the use of the boycott. For in- 
stance, the state of Illinois, in its statute relating to boy- 
cotting and blacklisting, provides that 



criminal 



320 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Law of state of 
Illinois. 



Boycott as a 
condition of 
modern 
industry. 



If any two or more persons conspire or agree together, or the 
officers or executive committee of any society or organization 
or corporation shall issue or utter any circular or edict as the 
action of or instruction to its members, or any other persons, 
societies, organizations, or corporations for the purpose of es- 
tablishing a so-called boycott or blacklist, or shall post or dis- 
tribute any written or printed notice in any place, with the 
fraudulent or malicious intent wrongfully and wickedly to in- 
jure the person, character, business, or employment or prop- 
erty of another, .... they shall be deemed guilty of a 
conspiracy ; and every such offender, whether as individuals 
or as the officers of any society or organization, and every per- 
son convicted of conspiracy at common law, shall be imprisoned 
in the penitentiary not exceeding five years, or fined not ex- 
ceeding $2,000, or both. 

In all such laws it is to be remarked how cautiously 
the framers have used the words ' ' fraudulent, " " ma- 
licious," "wrongfully," "wickedly," etc., because 
should any number of persons agree not to purchase 
goods of a particular trader, or agree to avoid certain 
cars, or not to buy a certain paper, they could not be 
convicted unless it was shown that they did it maliciously, 
etc. The boycott is recognized as one of the accom- 
panying conditions of the expansion of industry and the 
complications arising therefrom. When the strike goes, 
through prevention or through increased intelligence, 
the industrial boycott will become feeble in its opera- 
tion, and will have no terror for the trader, in whatever 
capacity he may act. 



PART IV. 

THE INFLUENCE OF MACHINERY ON 
LABOR. 



PART IV.-THE INFLUENCE OF MACHINERY 
ON LABOR. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE INFLUENCE OF MACHINERY ON LABOR. DIS- 
PLACEMENT. 

As shown in the chapter on the planting of the fac- 
tory system, the age of machinery found its birth in 
the development of spinning and weaving, and as these B irth of age c 
two arts lie at the very foundation of the industrial arts machlner y- 
of the ancients, so they are to a large extent the basic 
arts of the modern system of industry. Until the dec- 
ade of years beginning with 1760 the machines in use 
for weaving, as well as for spinning, were nearly as sim- 
ple as those in use among the ancients, and there were 
no machines of any consequence, certainly none used 
with power other than hand or foot-power, in operation. 
Of course the principles of all simple, primitive processes 
are those still in force, but it is only since invention has 
been applied to productive processes that it has had any 
specific influence upon the labor of man, either in an 
economic or an ethical sense. It is proposed here to 
treat of the influence of machinery in these two respects 
— in its economic and in its ethical influence on labor ; 
and, first, as to its economic influence : 

This influence has been felt in two ways, and these Effects of 

• t>i machinery. 

ways are diametrically opposed to each other. The one, 
in popular speech, is called the "displacement of labor" 

323 



324 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



t^rm ni "dis°- f the an d the other may be called the ' ' expansion of labor. ' ' 
iabor!" ent ° f By the displacement of labor is meant what would be ex- 
pressed more specifically by the term ' ' contraction of 




Old-Fashioned Stage Coach. 

labor" ; that is, where a machine has been invented by 
which one man can do the work, with the aid of the ma- 
chine, of several men working- without its aid ; and by ex- 



The Influence of Machinery on Labor. 



325 



pansion of labor is meant where, through invention, Meaning of 
more men are called into remunerative employment than iabo£" nsi ° n °* 
would have been employed had not such invention been 
made. In considering these economic bearings or influ- 
ences of machinery we must deal with labor abstractly ; 
but in speaking of the ethical influence later on labor 
must be considered not only abstractly, but as to its in- 
fluence on man as a social and political factor. In the 
highest sense the ethical influence of machinery becomes Ethical influ- 

t J ence the most 

the most prominent feature of any treatment of the rela- prominent, 
tion of machinery to or its influence upon labor ; but 
naturally the economic disturbances which have taken 
place through the introduction of finely-specialized ma- 
chinery claim the first attention. 

No one can claim that labor-saving machinery, so Displacement of 
called, but which more properly should be called labor- labor " 
making or labor-assisting machinery, does not displace 
labor so far as men individually are concerned, yet all 
men of sound minds admit the permanent good effects of 
the application of machinery to industrial development. 
The permanent good effects, however, do not prevent 
the temporary displacement, which, so far as the 
particular labor displaced is concerned, assists in 
crippling the consuming power of the community in 
which it takes place. It is, of course, exceedingly-' 
difficult to secure positive information illustrating a point 
so jhoroughly apparent ; yet from the fugitive sources 
which are at command a sufficient amount of informa- 
tion can be drawn to show clearly and positively the 
influence of machinery in bringing about what is called 
displacement.* 

* The specific facts in this chapter have been drawn from the First Annual 
Report of the United States Commissioner of Labor and from " Recent Eco- 
nomic Changes," by David A. Wells, LL. D. See also the address of the au- 
thor at the celebration of the beginning of the second century of the American 
Patent System, at Washington, April, 1891. 



326 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



In manufacture 
of agricultural 
implements. 



In small arms. 



In the manufacture of agricultural implements new 
machinery has, in the opinion of some of the best manu- 
facturers of such implements, displaced fully fifty per 
cent of the muscular labor formerly employed, as, for in- 
stance, hammers and dies have done away with the most 
particular labor on a plow. In one of the most extensive 
establishments engaged in the manufacture of agricultural 
implements in one of the Western States it is found that 
600 men, with the use of machinery, are now doing the 
work that would require 2,145 men, without the aid of 
machinery, to perform ; that is to say, there has been in 
this particular establishment a loss of labor to 1,545 men, 
the proportion of loss being as 3.57 to 1. 

In the manufacture of small arms, where one man, by 
manual labor, was formerly able to "turn" and "fit" 
one stock for a musket in one day of ten hours, three 
men now, by a division of labor and the use of power 




Passenger Car, 1834. Freight Car, 1835. 

Portage Railroad. Portage Railroad. 

machinery, will turn out and fit from 125 to 150 
stocks in ten hours. By this statement it is seen that 
one man individually turns out and fits the equivalent of 
forty-two to fifty stocks in ten hours, as against one stock 
in the same length of time under former conditions. In 
this particular calling, then, there is a displacement of 
forty-four to forty-nine men in one operation, 
in brick- Looking at a cruder industry, that of brickmaking, 

improved devices have displaced ten per cent of labor, 



The Influence of Machinery 011 Labor. 



327 



while in making fire-brick forty per cent of the labor for- 
merly employed is now dispensed with, and yet in many 
brickmaking concerns no displacement whatever has 
taken place. 

The manufacture of boots and shoes offers some very 
wonderful facts in this connection. In one large and 
long-established manufactory in one of the Eastern 
States the proprietors testify that it would require five 
hundred persons, working by hand processes- and in the 




In manufacture 
of boots and 
shoes. 



Freight and Passenger Cars, 1848. 
Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad. 

old way in the shops by the roadside, to make as many 
women's boots and shoes as one hundred persons now 
make with the aid of machinery and by congregated 
labor, a contraction of eighty per cent in this particular 
case. In another division of the same industry the num- 
ber of men required to produce a given quantity of boots 
and shoes has been reduced one half, while, in still an- 
other locality, and on another quality of boots, being 
entirely for women's wear, where formerly a first-class d "|p^c C e e ment. 
workman could turn out six pairs in one week, he will 
now turn out eighteen pairs. A well-known firm in the 
West engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes 
finds that it would take one hundred and twenty persons, 
working by hand, to produce the amount of work done 
in its factory by sixty employees, and that the hand- 
work would not compare in workmanship and appear- 
ance by fifty per cent. By the use of Goodyear' s sew- 



328 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Use of shoe 
machinery. 



ing machine for turned shoes one man will sew two 
hundred and fifty pairs in one day. It would require 
eight men, working by hand, to sew the same number 
in the same time. By the use of a heel-shaver or trim- 
mer one man will trim three hundred pairs of shoes a 
day, while formerly three men would have been required 
to do the same work ; and with the McKay machine 
one operator will handle three hundred pairs of shoes in 
one day, while without the machine he could handle but 
five pairs in the same time. So, in nailing on heels, one 
man, with the aid of machinery, can heel three hundred 
pairs of shoes per day, while five men would have to 




Model of the John Stevens Locomotive, the First in America. 1825. 

work all day to accomplish this by hand. A large Phil- 
adelphia house which makes boys' and children's shoes 
entirely, has learned that the introduction of new machin- 
ery within the past thirty years has displaced employees 



The Influence of Machinery on Labor. 



329 



in the proportion of six to one, and that the cost of the 
product has been reduced one half. 

The broom industry, which would not seem to offer a In broom . 
large field for speculation in reference to displacement, makin &- 
has felt the influence of invention, for the broom-sewing 
machine facilitates the work to such an extent that each 
machine displaces three men. A large broom-manu- 
facturing concern which a few years ago employed sev- 
enteen skilled men to manufacture five hundred dozen 
brooms per week, now, with nine men, aided by inven- 
tion, turns out twelve hundred dozen brooms weekly ; 
so in this case, while the force is reduced nearly one 
half, the quantity of product is more than doubled. 

To look at a carriage or a wagon, one would not sup- Carriages 
pose that in its manufacture machinery could perform wagons, 
very much of an office, and yet a foreman of fifty years' 
experience has stated that the length of time it formerly 
took a given number of skilled workmen, working en- 
tirely by hand, to produce a carriage of a certain style 
and quality was equal to thirty-five days of one man's 
labor, while now substantially the same style of carriage 
is produced by twelve days' labor. Machinery has 
been employed in making the parts necessary to the 
construction of a carriage or a wagon, and thus has sim- 
plified the work and reduced the time essential for the 
production of the completed product. 

In the manufacture of carpets there has been a dis- 
placement, taking all the processes together, of from ten 
to twenty times the number of persons now necessary. 
In the spinning of carpet material alone it would take, 
by the old methods, from seventy-five to one hundred 
times the number of operatives now employed to turn 
out the same amount of work, while in weaving there 
would be required at least ten times the present number. 



Carpets. 



330 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



A carpet-measuring machine has been invented which 
brushes and measures the product at the same time, and 
by its use one operator will accomplish what formerly 
required fifteen men. 
clothing. Very many people would say that in the manufacture 

of clothing there has been no improvement, except so 




Model of the Stockton and Darlington Locomotive No. i, brought 
from England to the United States in 1826. 



far as the use of the sewing machine has facilitated the 
manufacture ; yet in the ready-made clothing trade, 
where cutting was formerly done by hand, much of it is 
Use of dies now done Dv the use of dies, many thicknesses of the 
same size and style being cut at one operation. So in 



The Influence of Machinery on Labor. 



33i 



cutting out hats and caps with improved cutters, one 
man is enabled to cut out a great many thicknesses at 
the same time, and he does six times the amount of 
work with such devices as could formerly be done by one 
man in the old way. 

While the age of machinery began with improvements Textiles, 
for the manufacture of textiles, so the manufacture of 
textiles, and especially cotton goods, offers perhaps as 
striking an illustration as any of the apparent displace- 
ment of labor. With a hand-loom a weaver used to 
weave from sixty to eighty picks* per minute in weaving 
a cloth of good quality, with twenty threads of twist to 
each one quarter square inch. With a power-loom he 
now weaves one hundred and eighty picks per minute of £™4r-ioom. 
the same kind of cloth. Even in power machinery, a 
weaver formerly tended but one loom. Now one weaver 
minds all the way from two to ten looms, according to 
the grade of goods. In a large establishment in New 
Hampshire, improved machinery, even within ten years, 
has reduced muscular labor fifty per cent in the produc- 
tion of the same quality of goods. This, of course, is 
true in other localities given to the manufacture of cot- 
ton goods. 

In another line labor has been displaced to such an 
extent that only one third the number of operatives 
formerly required is now in employment. In the days 
of the single-spindle hand-wheel, one spinner, working Machines" 2 
fifty-six hours continuously, could spin five hanks f of 
number thirty-two twist. At the present time, with one 
pair of self-acting mule-spinning machines, having 2,124 



* Pick. — In weaving, the blow which drives the shuttle. It is delivered 
upon the end of the shuttle by the picker-head at the extremity of the picker- 
staff. The rate of a loom is said to be so many picks per minute. 

t Hank. — A skein or coil of yarn or thread ; more particularly, a definite 
length of yarn, thread, silk, or the like bound up in one or more skeins. A 
hank of cotton yarn is 840 yards ; a hank of linen yarn is 3,000 yards, 



332 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Displacement 
in cotton 
manufacture. 



Product of 
hand-loom. 



spindles, one spinner, with the assistance of two small 
boys, can produce 55,098 hanks of number thirty-two 
twist in the same time. It is quite generally agreed that 
there has been a displacement, taking all processes of 
cotton manufacture into consideration, in the proportion 
of three to one. The average number of spindles per 
operative in the cotton-mills of this country in 1831 was 



The "George Washington" Locomotive, 1835. The First Locomo- 
tive to Climb a Heavy Grade in the United States. 

25.2 ; it is now over 64.82, an increase of nearly 157 
per cent ; and along with this increase of the number of 
spindles per operative there has been an increase of 
product per operative of over 145 per cent, so far as 
spinning alone is concerned. In weaving in the olden 
time, in this country, a fair adult hand-loom weaver wove 
from forty-two to forty- eight yards of common shirting 
per week. Now a weaver, tending six power-looms in a 






The Influence of Machinery 011 Labor. 



333 



cotton factory, will produce 1,500 yards and over in a 
single week ; and now a recent invention will enable a 
weaver to double this product. 

Marvelous as these facts appear, when we examine the p r j nt i n g. 
influence of invention as applied in the newspaper pub- 
lishing business we perceive more clearly the magic of 
inventive genius. One of the latest sextuple stereotype 
perfecting presses manufactured by R. Hoe & Co. , of 




The Hoe Sextuple Stereotype Perfecting Press and Folder. 
Prints 72,000 4, 6, or 8-page papers per hour; 48,000 10 or 12-page papers per 
hour ; 36,000 16-page papers per hour ; 24,000 14, 20, or 24-page papers per 
hour; all the dimensions of the average daily newspaper, and delivered 
folded and counted. 



New York, has an aggregate running capacity of 72,000 
eight-page papers per hour ; that is to say, one of these 
perfected presses, run by one pressman and four skilled 
laborers, will print, cut at the top, fold, paste, and count 
(with supplement inserted if desired) 72,000 eight-page 
papers in one hour. To do the press-work alone for 
this number of papers would take, on the old plan, a 
man and a boy, working ten hours per day, one hundred 
days. A paper now published in the morning, printed, 
folded, cut, and pasted before breakfast, would, before 
the edition could be completed under the old system, be- 
come a quarterly. 



334 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



General illus- 
trations. 



Comparison of 
the two 

methods — hand 
and machine. 



And so illustrations might be accumulated in very 
many directions — in the manufacture of furniture, in the 
glass industry, in leather-making, in sawing lumber, in 
the manufacture of machines and machinery, in the pro- 
duction of metals and metallic goods of all kinds, or of 
wooden-ware, in the manufacture of musical instruments, 
in mining, in the oil industry, in the manufacture of 
paper, in pottery, in the production of railroad supplies, 
in the manufacture of rubber boots, of saws, of silk goods, 
of soap, of tobacco, of trunks, in building vessels, in 
making wine, and in the production of woolen goods. 

It is impossible to arrive at an accurate statement as to 
the number of persons it would require under the old 
system to produce the goods made by the present indus- 
trial system with the aid of invention and power machin- 
ery. Any computation would be a rough estimate. In 
some branches of work such a rough estimate would in- 
dicate that each employee at the present represents, on 
an average, fifty employees under the old system. In 
many other branches the estimate would involve the em- 
ployment of one now where three were employed. Look- 
ing at this question without any desire to be mathemat- 
ically accurate, it is fair to say, perhaps, that it would re- 
quire from fifty to one hundred million persons in this 
country, working under the old system, to produce the 
goods made and do the work performed by the workers 
of to-day with the aid of machinery. This computation 
may, of course, be very wide of the truth, but any com- 
putation is equally startling, and when it is considered 
that in spinning alone 1, 100 threads are easily spun now 
at one time where one was spun under the old system, 
no estimate can be successfully disputed. 

All these facts and illustrations simply show that there 
has been, economically speaking, a great displacement of 



The Influence of Machinery on Labor. 335 



labor by the use of inventions ; power machinery has Machinery 

1 • . j. ±x. c 1 assists mus 

come in as a magical assistant to the power 01 muscle 
and mind, and it is this side of the question that usually 
causes alarm. Enlightenment has taught the wage- 
receiver some of the advantages of the introduction of 
inventions as his assistants, but he is not yet fully in- 
structed as to their influence in all directions. He 
does see the displacement ; he does see the difficulty 
of turning his hand to other employment or of finding 



The First Steam Train Run on the Pennsylvania State 
Railroad, 1834. 

employment in the same direction. These are tangible 
influences which present themselves squarely in the face 
of the man involved, and to him no philosophical, eco- 
nomic, or ethical answer is sufficient. It is therefore % 

. n r . r Inadequacy of 

impossible to treat of the influence of inventions, so far individual basis, 
as the displacement of labor is concerned, as one of the 
leading influences, on the individual basis. We must 
take labor abstractly. So, having shown the powerful 
influence of the use of ingenious devices in the displace- 
ment or contraction of labor, as such, it is proper to 
show how such devices have influenced the expansion 
of labor or created employments and opportunities for 
employment which did not exist before their inception 
and application. A separate chapter is given to this 
part of the subject. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



THE INFLUENCE OF MACHINERY ON LABOR. EX- 
PANSION. 

As incredible as the facts given in the preceding 
Expansion of chapter appear to one who has not studied them, the 
machinery, ability to crystallize in individual cases and show the 
fairly exact displacement of labor exists. An examina- 
tion of the opposite influence of inventions, that of the 
expansion or creation of employments not before exist- 
ing, reveals a more encouraging state or condition of 
things, but one in which the statistician can make but very 
little headway. The influences under the expansion of 
labor have various ramifications. The people at large, 
and especially those who work for wages, have experi- 
enced these influences in several directions, and contem- 
poraneous with the introduction and use of inventions, 
the chief economic influence being in the direction of 
expansion, the other influences being more thoroughly 
ethical, and these should be considered under that broad 
title. The statistical method helps in some respects in 
studying the expansive power of inventions, and espe- 
cially in the direction of great staples used as raw material 
in manufacturing processes and in the increase of the 
number of people employed relative to the number of 
the population. If there has been a great increase in 
the consumption per capita of great staples for manu- 
facturing purposes, there must have been a correspond- 
ing expansion of labor necessary for the production of 
goods in like directions. 

336 



The Influence of Machinery on Labor. 



337 



Taking up some of the leading- staples, the facts show 
that the per capita consumption of cotton in this country Per capita 

x A A J consumption 

in 1830 was 5.9 pounds ; in 1880, 13.91 pounds ; while cotton, 
in 1890 the per capita consumption had increased to 
nearly 19 pounds. These figures are for cotton con- 
sumed in our own country, and clearly and positively 
indicate that the labor necessary for such consumption 
has been kept up to the standard, if not beyond the 
standard, of the olden time — that is, as to the number 
of people employed. 

In iron the increase has been as great proportionately. 
In 1870 the per capita consumption of iron in the United 
States was 105.64 pounds, in 1880 it had risen to 204.99, 
and in 1890 to 283.38. While processes in manufactur- 
ing iron have been improved, and labor displaced to a 
certain extent by such processes, this great increase in 
the consumption of iron is a most encouraging fact, and 
proves that there has been an offset to the displacement. 

The consumption of steel shows like results. In 1880 
it was 46 pounds per capita, and in 1890, 144 pounds, of steel. 
The application of iron and steel in all directions, in the 
building trades as well as in the mechanic arts, in great 
engineering undertakings, and in a multitude of di- 
rections, only indicates that labor must be actively em- 
ployed, or such extensions could not take place. But a 
more conclusive offset to the displacement of labor, con- 
sidered abstractly, is shown by the statistics of persons 
engaged in all occupations. From i860 to 1890, a 
period of thirty years, and the most prolific period in 
this country of inventions, and therefore of the most in- 
tensified influence in all directions of their introduction, 
the population increased 99.16 per cent, while during 
the same period the number of persons employed in all 
occupations — manufacturing, agriculture, domestic serv- 



338 Lidustrial Evolution of the United States. 



Increase of 
population com- 
pared with 
increase in 
persons 
employed. 



Influence 
of telegraphy 
in causing 
expansion. 



Of electro- 
plating. 



ice, everything — increased 176.07 per cent. In the 
twenty years, 1870 to 1890, the population increased 
62.41 per cent, while the number of persons in all oc- 
cupations increased 81.80 per cent. An analysis of these 
statements shows that the increase of the number of 
those engaged in manufacturing, mechanical, and mining 
industries, those in which the influence of inventions is 
most keenly felt, for the period from i860 to 1890 was 
172.27 percent, as against 99.16 per cent increase in 
the total population. If statistics could be as forcibly 
applied to show the new occupations brought into ex- 
istence by invention, it is believed that the result would 
be still more emphatic. 

If we could examine scientifically the number of 
created occupations, the claim that inventions have dis- 
placed labor on the whole would be conclusively and em- 
phatically refuted. Taking some of the great industries 
that now exist, and which did not exist prior to the in- 
ventions which made them, we must acknowledge the 
power of the answer. In telegraphy thousands and 
thousands of people are employed where no one has ever 
been displaced. The construction of the lines, the 
manufacture of the instruments, the operation of the 
lines — all these divisions and subdivisions of a great in- 
dustry have brought thousands of intelligent men and 
women into remunerative employment where no one 
had ever been employed before. The telephone has 
only added to this accumulation and expansion, and the 
whole field of electricity, in providing for the employ- 
ment of many skilled workers, has not trenched upon the 
privileges of the past. Electroplating, a modern device, 
has not only added wonderfully to the employed list by 
its direct influence, but indirectly by the introduction of 
a class of goods which can be secured by all persons. 



The Influence of Machinery on Labor. 339 



Silverware is no longer the luxury of the rich. Through 
the invention of electroplating, excellent ware, with most 
artistic design, can be found in almost every habitation 
in America. The application of electroplating to nickel 
furnished a subsidiary industry to that of electroplating 
generally, and nickelplating had not been known half a 
dozen years before more than thirty thousand people 
were employed in the industry, where no one had ever 
been employed prior to the invention. 

The railroads offer another grand illustration of the 
expansion of labor. It now requires more than three 



Of railroads. 




The "Pioneer." First Locomotive in Chicago. 



quarters of a million of people to operate our railroads, 
and this means a population of nearly four millions, or 
one sixteenth of the whole population of the country. 
The displacement of the stage coach and the stage- 
driver was nothing compared to the expansion of labor 



Number re- 
quired to oper- 
ate them. 



3-p Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



All railroad 
work leads to 
expansion. 



which the railroad systems of the country have created. 
The construction of the roadbed and its equipment con- 
stantly involve the employment of great numbers — 
armies even — of mechanics, while the operation of the 
roads themselves, as has been stated, secures employ- 
ment to more than three quarters of a million of people. 




A Modern Locomotive. 
The Empire State Express Engine No. 999 of the New York Central and Hud- 
son River Railroad. This engine ran for a considerable distance at the 
rate of 112% miles an hour, hauling its regular train. 

All this work of the railroads has not, in all probability, 
displaced a single coachman ; on the other hand, it has 
created the demand for drivers and workers with horses 
and wagons through the great expansion of the express 
business, of cab-driving, of connecting lines, and in other 
directions, which could not have taken place under the 
old stage-coach regime. 
influence When the sewing machine was invented it was thought 

mach e ine. wmg that the sewing girl's day was over. So it was in a cer- 
tain respect. She can now earn more money with less 
physical exhaustion than under the old system. Abomina- 
bly poor as are the results of her efforts now, they are 



The Influence of Machinery on Labor. 



341 



far better than they would have been without this inven- 
tion. But as a means of expansion of labor the sewing 
machine is a striking illustration. It has displaced no 
one ; it has increased demand, and it has been the means 
of establishing great workshops to supply the thousands 
of machines that are sold throughout the world. 

The inventions of Goodyear, whereby rubber gum of rubber 
could be so treated as to be made into articles of wearing goods, 
apparel, have resulted in the establishment of great in- 
dustries as new creations. We need not in this place 
consider the great benefits through the use of water- 
proof clothing. The mere fact that great industries have 
arisen where none existed before is sufficient for our pur- 
pose. Much time might be taken up in simply accumu- 
lating illustrations showing the expansive force of inven- 
tions in the direction of creating new opportunities for 
remunerative employment. The facts given show con- D j sp i acem , 
clusively that displacement has been more than offset by °xpf n g£ n 
expansion. Yet, if the question be asked, Has the 
wage- earner received his just and equitable share of the 
economic benefits derived from the introduction of 
machinery ? the answer must be, No. By this is meant 
his relative share, compared with that going to capital. 
In the struggle for supremacy in the great countries de- 
voted to mechanical production it probably has been im- 
possible for him to share equitably in such benefits. 
Notwithstanding this, his share has been enormous, and 
the gain to him such as to change his whole relation to 
society and the state, such changes affecting his moral 
position. 

It is certainly true — and the statement is simply cumu- 
lative evidence of the truth of the view that expansion of 
labor through inventions has been equal or superior to 
any displacement that has taken place — that in those 



342 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



countries given to the development and use of machin- 
ery there is found the greatest proportion of employed 
persons, and that in those countries where machinery has 
been developed to little or no purpose poverty reigns, ig- 
norance is the prevailing condition, and civilization con- 
sequently far in the rear. 

The expansion of values as the result of the influence 
Expansion of of machinery has been quite as marvelous as in any other 

values. J * J 

direction, for educated labor, supplemented by machin- 
ery, has developed small quantities of inexpensive ma- 
terial into products of great value. This truth is illus- 
trated by taking cotton and iron ore as the starting-point. 
A pound of cotton, costing at the time this calculation 
was made but 1 3 cents, has been developed into muslin 
which sold in the market for 80 cents, and into chintz 
which sold for $4. Seventy-five cents' worth of common 
iron ore has been developed into $5 worth of bar-iron, 
or into $10 worth of horse-shoes, or into $180 worth of 
table knives, or into $6, 800 worth of fine needles, or into 
$29,480 worth of shirt buttons, or $200,000 worth of 
watch-springs, or $400,000 worth of hair-springs, and 
the same quantity of common iron ore can be made into 
$2,500,000 worth of pallet arbors.* 

The illustrations given, both of the expansion of labor 
and the expansion of values, are sufficiently suggestive of 
Machinery the a l me of study which, carried in any direction, will show 
fnend of man. macri i ner y [ s trie f r i e nd and not the enemy of man, 

especially when man is considered as a part of society 
and not as an individual. 



* This calculation was made by George Woods, LL. D., of Pittsburg, Pa., 
and given by him in an address on " Technical Education," in 1874. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



THE ETHICAL INFLUENCE OF MACHINERY ON LABOR. 

Ac cording to Mr. Herbert Spencer, ethics compr e- 
hends the laws of ri ght living ; and that, beyond ther eon- spencer's 
"duct comm only approved or reprobated as right o r ethics? " ° f 
wrong, it includes all conduct which further s or hinder s, 
in direct or in indirect ways, the welfare of self or others ; 
that justic e, which formulates the range of conduct and 
limitations to conduct hence arising, is at once the most 
important division of ethics ; that it has to define the 
equitable relations among individuals who limit one 
another's spheres of action by coexisting, and who 
achieve their ends by cooperation ; and that, beyond 
justice between man and man, justice between each man 
and the aggregate of men has to be dealt with by it. 

This constitutes a very broad definition of ethics, and 
the propositions laid down by Mr. Spencer, taken by 
themselves, are such as no moral philosopher can for a 
moment reject, nor should they be rejected by econo- 
mists, for a moment's reflection upon their bearing shows 
conclusively that material prosperity is best subserved by 
their incorporation as chapters in the laws of trade, com- 
merce, and production. So the relation of the wage- 
receiver to his fellow-men and to society becomes ethical, 
purely so : but it is certainly ethico-economical, and his Relation of 

... . . wage-worker 

wages, the standard of his living ; his working time, the t °^°£j ety is 
cost of his living ; his education, his interest in religious 
and literary matters, in art, and in all that adorns life, 

343 



344 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Invention typi- 
fies our civili- 
zation. 



are features surrounding him which must be contemplated 
from the ethical point of view. This thought is all the 
more emphatic when it is considered that invention has 
brought with it a new school of ethics. It is the type and 
representative of the civilization of this period, because 




Masonic Temple, Chicago. 



Ethical Influence of Machinery 011 Labor. 



it embodies, so far as physics and economics are con- Machinery is 
cerned, the concentrated, clearly wrought-out thought of Slnt of ° di " 
the age. Books may represent thought ; machinery or thou s ht - 
invention is the embodiment of thought. From an in- 
tellectual point of view, then, it becomes perfectly legiti- 
mate to speak of the ethical influence of inventions, and 
no consideration of the relation of inventions to labor 
or of the evolution of industry would be complete with- 
out showing in a more deeply philosophical sense their 
ethical influence upon the individual laborer. 

We are living at the beginning of the age of mind, as A 
illustrated by the results of inventive genius. It is the machinery the 
age of intellect, of brain — for brain is king, and machin- ° ' 
ery is the king's prime minister. Wealth of mind and 
wealth of purse may struggle for the mastery, but the 
former usually wins, and gives the crown to the Huxleys, 
Darwins, Tyndalls, Proctors, Woolseys, and Drapers, 
rather than to the men who accumulate great fortunes. 
It is natural and logical that under such a sovereignty in- 
ventions should not only typify the progress of the race, 
but that they should also have a clearly marked influ- 
ence upon the morals of peoples, a mixed influence, to 
be sure, as men are what we call good or evil, but on the 
whole with the good vastly predominant. 

Under the old hand system of labor, or, to use a bet- 
ter term, the domestic system, which was displaced when 
machinery came in and the factory system became fixed, 
the most demoralizing conditions prevailed. Those who 
believe that the old system was better than the new find 
something poetic in the idea of the weaver of old Eng- 
land, before spinning machinery was invented, working 
at his loom in his cottage, with his family about him, and 
from this reflection fall into the idyllic sentiment that the 
domestic system surpassed the present This sentiment 



346 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Condition 
under hand- 
labor system. 



Employment 
means the best 
ethical con- 
dition of man. 



has done much to create false impressions as to the re- 
sults or influence of machinery. Goldsmith's Auburn 
and Crabbe's Village do not reflect the truest picture of 
their country's home life under the domestic system of 
labor, for the domestic laborer's home, instead of being 
the poetic one, was very far from the character poetry 
has given it. Huddled together in his hut, not a cot- 
tage, the weaver's family lived and worked, without com- 
fort, convenience, good air, good food, and without 
much intelligence. Drunkenness and theft made each 
home the scene of crime and want and disorder. Super- 
stition ruled, and envy swayed the workers. If the 
members of a family, endowed with more virtue and in- 
telligence than the common herd, tried to so conduct them- 
selves as to secure at least self-respect, they were either 
abused or ostracized by their neighbors. The ignorance 
under the old system added to the squalor of the homes 
under it, and what all these elements failed to produce in 
making the hut an actual den was faithfully performed, 
in too many instances, by the swine of the family. The 
reports of the Poor Laws commissioners of England are 
truer exponents of conditions than poetry, and show 
more faithfully the demoralizing agency of pauperism 
and of all the other evils which were so prolific under the 
hand system of work. 

The influence of machinery at the particular time 
spoken of in the history of mankind is usually over- 
looked, and so, too, is the fact that if there is any one 
thing in individuals that the present age insists upon it 
is work — employment of some kind, /or emplo yment 
means t he very best etlucad_mj[idition of m an. ~ The 
lowest and the most harmful and the most expensive ig- 
norance which can prevail in any community is ignorance 
of work, the want of some technical knowledge which 



Ethical Influence of Machinery on Labor. 347 



enables a man to earn a living outside of a penal insti- 
tution, and as ethics and practical religion most assuredly 
have much to do with everything that affects the conduct 
of life, the knowledge which enables a man to do his 
work well indicates his ethical relations. Poverty and Religion de- 

. , e J niands high 

pure religion cannot exist among the same people, for pfoy^^ t em " 
such a religion cannot prevail unless the people are en- 
gaged in that class of employment which tends to 
broaden all their faculties, to awaken not only their sense 
of duty to their kind, but also to develop their love of 
beauty, of art, and of all that adorns and ennobles life ; 
and such employment cannot be maintained without the 
vitalizing use of inventions which exhibit the enduring, 
the working, and the perfect embodiment of human 
ingenuity. 

We are hardly aware of the silent working influence 
of machinery upon the morals of the world, but it is 
recognized in this particular thought that has been out- 
lined, that poverty and religion are not now, as onc< 
twin virtues. There are many other things to be learnej 
from the influence of machinery which satisfy this thesis? 
Communism, which means the destruction of labor, can 
not coexist with machinery. Its use requires too much 
competition, both social and industrial, to admit of com- 
munism. The states, therefore, devoted to industries 
which require the use of machines to a large extent are 
safe from the inroads of communism and communistic 
socialism, for without machinery the world would neces- 
sarily retrograde to superstition and to ignorance, and 
the ingenuity of man would assume its old place among 
the unused faculties of the mind. 

The ethical effects of the division of labor which has 
resulted from the application of machinery are very a PP rentices - 
marked. Trades are hardly essential now. The ap- 




Benefits to 



348 Industrial Evolution of the Lhiited States. 



prentice boy, if bright, can learn his trade in less than 
the time required in the old way, under which he cannot 
become a journeyman until he has been pronounced 
such by the time spent in his apprenticeship. After he 
becomes skilful his wages are usually exploited to the 
extent of his skill, and he is obliged to contribute more 
in the way of actual earnings than he receives. But 
this is not the worst result of the apprenticeship system. 
Finding that he is robbed by it, he finally undertakes to 
earn no more than he is paid, and so acquires habits of 
unthrift which follow him through life. These things 
have caused the apprentice boy to disappear practically 
from the industrial world. Through manual training 
and the results of the trade school, a boy can utilize his 
whole time, and as soon as he becomes accomplished or 
well equipped in his particular trade he can command 
the wages legitimately his due. He has had the expe- 
rience of good training, and he has the advantage over 
the old apprentice, both in the saving of time and in the 
more immediate reward which his skill commands. But 
the ethical influences of machinery are shown in other 
directions, for with the diversity of employment which 
has resulted from its adoption there have come shorter 
hours of labor and consequently increased opportunities 
for mental and moral improvement. With this gain of 
time wages have been greatly increased and the cost of 
the principal articles of consumption constantly re- 
duced. 

As to production, one illustration must serve for all, 
and this is drawn from the cotton industry. A fair adult 
hand-loom weaver can weave from 42 to 48 yards of 
common shirting per week ; a weaver in a modern fac- 
tory, tending six power-looms, can turn out about 1 , 500 
yards per week. On the hand- wheel (one spindle) a 



Ethical Influence of Machinery on Labor. 349 



spinner can turn off eight ounces of number ten cloth 
yarn in ten hours, or three pounds in one week ; the 
operator of the mule spinning machine can turn out over 
3,000 pounds in the same time. All this means a cor- 
responding decrease in price. 

The hours of labor have been reduced from twelve or In re duction 
thirteen per day in the same industry to nine and one hours - 
half in England and ten generally in this country. An 
examination of statistical tables will convince any one 
that for most divisions of labor in textile factories wages 
have been nearly doubled during the past sixty or 
seventy years, and such examination will show like re- 
sults for very many other industries. 

This inevitable ethical result of the application of 
machinery has been to enable man to secure a livelihood 
in less time than of old, and this is grand of itself, if no 
other advantage had been secured ; for it must be con- 
sidered that as the time required to earn a living grows 
shorter civilization advances, and that any system which 
demands of a man all his time or the greater portion of 
it for the earning of mere subsistence must be demoraliz- 
ing in all respects. The moral condition of man has been 
improved through the improvement of his health. In 
warm and comfortable clothing, in water-proof material, 
in heating and lighting, in a thousand ways, invention 
has carried with it more comfortable conditions, increased 
health, and an increased longevity, the average of life increase in 

. 1-1 • average life. 

at present being ten per cent higher than in the olden 
time. Low grades of labor are constantly giving place 
to educated labor. The man who used to do the most 
detestable forms of work is being displaced everywhere 
by men of professional and technical training, who super- 
intend some device brought into use by invention. So 
the constant promotion of luxuries to the grade of neces- 



350 Industrial Evolution of the United States. 



Luxuries have 
become neces- 
saries. 



Rapid transit. 



Machinery 

marks 

progress. 



saries of life marks the forward steps of civilization. 
What once were luxuries to one class are now the neces- 
saries of life to a class that might be considered below 
the first. This is illustrated by the fact that there was a 
time when a linen sheet was worth thirty-two days of 
common labor, and when a gridiron cost from four to 
twelve days of labor. 

Prior to the generation which precedes the present the 
fastest time that could be made was through the speed 
of man, or of horses, or of sailing vessels, except, per- 
haps, in the occasional transmission of intelligence by sig- 
nals. The very first change in the way of speed in trans- 
portation or in the interchange of intelligence came to the 
world within the memory of men now living. Engineering 
enterprises are solving the problem of how to relieve 
congested cities and of how to give to the wage-worker, 
who must save time as between his lodging and his work, 
the benefits of healthful surroundings in the country. 
Rapid transit, through the application of electricity to 
street cars, has in many cases added from one half to 
three quarters of an hour of the day to the workingman's 
available time. This is the influence of invention, and a 
moral influence, for it betters his condition, helps him 
to a higher plane, facilitates social intercourse, and in 
everyway gives him better opportunities for enjoying all 
that belongs to his environment. 

Every machine that is invented marks some progress 
in a useful art. It accomplishes some useful end not be- 
fore attained, or it does some old work better and 
cheaper. It makes more valuable the day's work of an 
operative, and it adds to everything that makes life 
agreeable, provided there is thrift and prudence behind 
the worker. If there is any ethical influence in the 
study of or familiarity with works of art, certainly ma- 



Ethical Influence of Machinery on Labor. 351 



chinery has had a very deep ethical influence, for by the 
aid of mechanical powers the work of artisans is rapidly 
making the taste of the people artistic, for trained and 
inventive skill, as exhibited in machinery, puts art into 
wood and metal, showing ' ' the highest discipline of the 
mental faculties, the direction and subordination of all 
its manifestations for some clearly- defined purpose." 
But it has gone beyond and has brought to the common- 
est person some of the results of the highest artistic skill 
in the world. Copies of great pictures, the works of 
the great masters, are familiar to the common people. 
Once only one man could own a great picture ; to him 
and to his friends all the joy that comes of beholding: the Makes art 

J J ° common to all. 

artistic production was limited. To-day, while he owns 
the original, the people own the picture, and the artist 
and his influence serve all, and he is enabled not only to 
unlock the stores of art which the world holds, but by 
the cheapening of publication he can unlock the stores 
of knowledge. 

There is one feature which belongs to the ethical in- Machinery 
fluence of machinery to which attention ought to be f g °foVa\ice Create 
called. The argument is often made that by its use there 
is brought into industrial work an ignorant class of work- 
ers, but this argument is baseless. There is no more ig- 
norance in the world on account of inventions, but by 
their perfection an ignorant class can often do perfectly 
what an intelligent class used to bungle over, and at the 
same time the intelligence of the ignorant is raised. The 
ignorant laborer of to-day is, in all that makes up 
condition, more than the peer of the skilled workman of 
a few generations ago, and the fact that as the country 
increases in wealth the numbers employed in miscellaneous 
industries, as has been shown in the preceding chapter, 
and what Mr. David A. Wells calls incorporeal functions 



352 Industrial Evolution of the U?iited States. 



It congregates 
ignorant 
laborers and 
then elevates 
them. 



— that is, artists, teachers, and others who minister to 
taste and comfort in a way that can hardly be called ma- 
terial — increase disproportionately to those engaged in 
the production of the great staples, answers the idea that 
inventions foster ignorance in production. Inventions 
have, indeed, superinduced the congregation of ignorant 
laborers, and thereby given the appearance of creating 
ignorant labor. The great fact remains that as ignorant 
laborers are brought together their condition attracts at- 
tention and the public proceeds at once to bring to them 
educational facilities. Invention was the cause of the 
better condition, for it was not until the factory system 
was thoroughly fixed as the industrial system of England 
that Parliament brought under educational influences the 
children of the factory. To machinery must be attrib- 
uted the great extension of the facilities for educating the 
masses. The centers devoted to industrial pursuits are 
the centers of thought, of mental friction, of intelligence, 
and of progress. 



INDEX. 



Agricultural implements, displacement 
of hand labor in manufacture of, 
326 ; wages in manufacture of, 1860- 
9°. 219. 

Agriculture, 12 ; per capita value of 
products of, 160 ; report of United 
States Commissioner of, for 1865, 151; 
southern colonies devoted to, 100. 

Allegheny Valley Railroad, strike on 
the, 302. 

Amalgamated Association of Iron and 
Steel Workers, 309. 

American Federation of Labor, 245, 
253-260, 262 ; constitution of, 257 ; 
date of organization under pres- 
ent name, 254; estimated member- 
ship of, 260 ; friction between the 
and the Knights of Labor, 257 ; gen- 
eral aim of the, 254 ; list of orders 
affiliated with the, 258-259 ; mani- 
festo of the, 256-257 ; not a secret 
order, 258 ; objects of the, 259. 

American industrial history, trend of, 
23. 

American Railway Union, 245, 260-262, 
315; composition of the, 261; date 
of organization, 260 ; distinctive 
features of the, 261 ; strike, 317. 

Anchors, manufacture of, 88. 

Arbitration, boards of, 2S9 ; boards of, 
may tender services, 290 ; compul- 
sory, 290; difficulties of compulsory, 
291 ; federal law relating to, 289 ; 
voluntary, 289 ; and conciliation, 288. 

Architecture, domestic, 74. 

Area, center of, 18. 

Arkwright, Richard, 121, 124, 125, 145. 

Arms, small, displacement of hand 
labor in manufacture of, 326. 

Articles, cost of all, averaged accord- 
ing to importance, 1840-90, 227. 

Bakery products, value of, 1860-90, 
172. 



Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, strike 

on the, 301. 
Bar-iron, definition of, 84. 
Bells, cast at New Haven, 87. 
Bessemer steel, manufacture of, 178. 
Bicycles, manufacture of, 180. 
Bishop, J. Leander, "History of 

American Manufactures," 29, 43, 57, 

58, 95, 97- 
Bloomery, definition of, 83. 
Boatbuilding at Plymouth, 29, 31. 
Bog ore, definition of, 81 ; discovery 

of, in Maryland, 95. 
Book, first printed in the colonies, 62. 
Bookbinding, 69. 

Books and newspapers, wages in pro- 
duction of, 1842-90, 219. 

Booksellers, number of, in the colo- 
nies prior to 1775, 68. 

Bookselling and printing combined, 68. 

Boot and shoe industry, increase of 
women in, 1850-90, 208 ; value of 
product of, in i860, 139. 

Boot and shoemaking, 141. 

Boots and shoes, displacement of hand 
labor in manufacture of, 327; increase 
in number of employees in manufac- 
ture of, 1860-90, 194 ; increase in 
wages of employees in manufacture 
of, 1860-90, 194. 

Boston, convention of, 237-238; ship- 
building at, 30; spinning school in, 58. 

Boycott, law of Illinois relating to, 320; 
origin of, 318. 

Brick and tile, capital invested in 
manufacture of, 1860-90, 184; value 
of production of, 1860-90, 184. 

Brickmaking, displacement of hand 
labor in, 326. 

Bricks, exportation of, 78 ; first made 
in Virginia, 76. 

Broadcloth, manufacture of in Con- 
necticut, 47. 



354 



Index. 



Broom-making, displacement of hand 

labor in, 329. 
Building materials, 13. 
Building trades, wages in, 1840-90, 

219-222. 

Buildings and building materials, 71- 
79- 

Butter, manufacture of, 175. 

Butterine, manufacture of, 175. 

California, discovery of gold in, 13. 

Canned goods, value of, 171. 

Cannon, cast in Maryland, 96; manu- 
facture of, 88. 

Capital, relation of, to product, 194. 

Card teeth, manufacture of, 55. 

Carding machines, 95. 

Carnegie Steel Company, 309. 

Carpets, capital invested in produc- 
tion of, 1860-90, 164; displacement 
of hand labor in manufacture of, 329; 
production of, 1860-90, 164. 

Carriages and wagons, displacement 
of hand labor in manufacture of, 
329 ; wages in manufacture of, 1840- 
90, 224. 

Census, constitutional provision for, 
14; of i860, 159; Superintendent of, 
119. 

Cereals, exports of, 1789, 74. 

Charcoal, consumption of, 181. 

Cheese, manufacture of, 174-175. 

Chicago strike, 1894, 313-320; cause 
of, 313-314 ; lesson of the, 317 ; loss 
on account of the, 315. 

Children, acts of legislature of Massa- 
chusetts regarding, 270, 271-272, 276- 
277 ; legislation relative to employ- 
ment of, 212. 

Children and women, average earn- 
ings of, in cotton manufacturing 
states, 210. 

Children employees, number of, in all 
industries, 1870-90, 207. 

Cities, number of, having a population 
of more than 8,000 each, 17. 

Civil War, a great labor movement, 
152 ; manufactures stimulated by, 
188. 

Clapboards, exportation of, 25, 28, 71. 
Cloth manufacture, effect of Revolu- 
tion on, 55. 



Clothing, displacement of hand labor 
in manufacture of, 330. 

Clothing industry, growth of, 139 ; 
value of product of, in i860, 139. 

Clothing, ladies,' capital invested in 
manufacture of, 1860-90, 168 ; prod- 
uct of, 1860-90, 168 ; men's, 1860-90, 
167-168; Virginia colonists depend- 
ent upon England for, 28. 

Cloth-making, prohibition of, 45. 

Coal, 13, 100. 

Coke, capital invested in manufacture 
of, 1860-90, 180 ; increase in con- 
sumption of, 182 ; value of produc- 
tion of, 1860-90, 180. 

Colonies, population of, 14. 

Commerce, 12. 

Commercial conditions, change in, 
118. 

Connecticut, discovery of copper in, 
86 ; discovery of iron in, 85 ; erection 
of tide-mills in, 47 ; first attempts at 
the production of steel in, 86 ; first 
church erected in, 75 ; first merchant 
vessel built in, 33 ; manufacture of 
broadcloth in, 47 ; production of 
woolen cloth in, 47 ; progress of iron 
manufacture in, 87 ; shipbuilding in, 
33 ; Washington's visit to, 47. 

Conspiracy, attitude of courts on the 
doctrine of, 283-285 ; definition of, 
by legislatures, 285; laws, changes 
in, 283 ; peaceable organization not, 
286 ; what constitutes, 284-285. 

Constitution, federal, adoption of, 14. 

Constitution of 1789, benefits of, in de- 
veloping industry, 123. 

Copper, discovery of, 83 ; in Con- 
necticut, 86 ; in Pennsylvania, 93. 

Copper coins, striking of, 87. 

Cordage, 26. 

Cotton, capital invested in, 1860-90, 
162 ; consumption of, 156 ; cultiva- 
tion of, in Delaware, 51 ; cultivation 
of, in Maryland, 51 ; cultivation of, in 
South Carolina, 51 ; cultivation of, 
transferred to the South, 52 ; de- 
crease of culture of, in Delaware, 52 ; 
decrease of, in Maryland, 52 ; expor- 
tation of, 13 ; first supplies of, 51 ; 
increased consumption of, 134; per 



Index. 



355 



capita consumption of, 337 ; produc- 
tion of, prior to the war, 156 ; pro- 
duction of, since the war, 156; the 
leading industry, 162; use of, stimu- 
lated by cotton-gin, 129 ; value of 
pound of, when manufactured into 
various articles, 342 ; value of prod- 
uct of, 1860-90, 162. 

Cotton factories, number of, at differ- 
ent periods, 133-134. 

Cotton factory, first using English 
methods, 125. 

Cotton-gin, 95, 128; definition of, 128; 
influence of, 145; invention of, 128. 

Cotton goods, total value of, in i860, 
139; value of, at different periods, 
134-135; wages in manufacture of, 
1840-90, 218. 

Cotton industry, capital invested in, at 
different periods, 134 ; growth of, 133; 
in Southern States, 135. 

Cotton machinery, early, in South 
Carolina, 127; efforts to secure, in 
America, 54. 

Cotton manufacture, displacement of 
hand labor in, 332; early attempts at, 
in Philadelphia, 55 ; views of Alex- 
ander Hamilton on, 53. 

Cotton-mill operatives, wages of, 216. 

Cotton-raising, 51. 

Cotton-spinning and weaving, 51. 

Crompton, Samuel, 56, 145. 

Currency and gold prices compared, 
228. 

Cut-nails, attempts to make, 84. 

Delaware, cultivation of cotton in, 51 ; 
decrease of cotton culture in, 52 ; 
first press in, 64 ; iron in, 95 ; ship- 
building in, 39. 

Displacement of labor, definition of, 
323 ; offset by expansion, 341. 

Domain, national, 11, 12; public, 12. 

Domestic system of labor, 24. 

" Double-header," definition of, 303. 

Duties, first act levying, 118; varia- 
tion in, 118. 

Dwellings, development of, 75 ; early, 
74-75- 

Dyeing and finishing, capital invested 
in, 1860-90, 166 ; value of product of, 
1860-90, 166. 



Earnings, average, 191, 210 ; of employ- 
ees, 196; of men, women, and chil- 
dren, 198-199; of officers and firm 
members, 196; of piece-workers, 197; 
of women and children in cotton 
manufacturing states, 210. 

Electricity, application of, to street 
cars, 350. 

Electroplating, influence of, in caus- 
ing expansion of labor, 338. 

Ely, Richard T., "Labor Movement in 
America," 236, 241, 243, 319. 

Employees, increase in number of, 193 ; 
total number of, 1850-90, 191 ; total 
wages paid to all, 192. 

Employers' liability, 278-282 ; laws of 
various states relating to, 282. 

English laws, prohibiting exportation 
of machines, 122 ; restrictions of, 47, 
122. 

English machinery, Samuel Slater 

first to erect, 128. 
English methods, first factory using, 

125. 

English policy toward the United 

States, 120. 
English prohibitive measures, 60. 
English vessels, first on the Great 

Lakes, 37. 
Expansion of labor, definition of, 325. 
Exports, early, from Plymouth, 28 ; 

first, 25 ; value of, in 1789, 102 ; value 

of, in 1894, 19. 
Exports and imports, of Maryland, 48; 

of Virginia, 48. 
Factories, inspection of, 277. 
Factory, first textile, 124; perfection 

of the, 129 ; laws of, 278. 
Factory system, 24 ; climatic influence 

no obstacle to its extension in the 

South, 154; development of the, 117- 

131 ; efforts to establish the, 122 ; of 

the United States, report on the, 119 ; 

wide application of, 193. 
Farms, value of products of, in 1889, 

13- 

Fisheries, .13, 14 ; per capita value of 
products of, 160 ; value of product of, 
in 1889, 14. 

Flax, 26, 56-57 ; cultivation of, 57 ; 
methods of spinning, 57 ; use of, 56. 



356 



Index. 



Flour, capital invested in manufacture 

of, 1860-90, 172 ; value of product of, 

1860-90, 172. 
Flour-mills, number of, 173. 
Food products, capital invested in, 

1860-90, 171 ; value of, 1860-90, 171- 

172. 

Foot-wear, capital invested in manu- 
facture of, 1860-90, 169 ; value of 
product of, 1860-90, 169-171. 

Forest products, exportation of, from 
Plymouth, 28. 

Forests, 13 ; value of product of, in 
1889, 14. 

Forges, definition of, 83 ; number of, 

in Maryland at close of seventeenth 

century, 97. 
Foundry, definition of, 83. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 64, 66, 149. 
Fulling-mill, definition of, 46 ; erection 

of, at Salem, 46 ; erection of, in 

North Carolina, 50 ; first, at Rowley, 

46 ; first, in Virginia, 48. 
Furnace, definition of, 83. 
Furniture, displacement of hand labor 

in manufacture of, 334. 
Furs, exportation of, from Plymouth, 

28. 

General Managers' Association, 314, 
315. 

Georgia, coal in, 100 ; first press in, 64 ; 

gold in, 100 ; iron in, 100. 
Glass, 25, 78-79, 334. 
Glass industry, displacement of hand 

labor in, 334. 
Glassmaking, 78-79. 
Gold, 13; in Georgia, 100. 
Gold and currency prices compared, 

228. 

Gold mines, 13. 
Goodyear, inventions of, 341. 
Gould system of railroads, strikes on, 
307-308. 

Great Britain, dependence of the states 

upon, 119. 
Great Lakes, carrying trade of, 19 ; 

first English vessels on the, 37 ; 

shipbuilding on the, 36-37. 
Great Northern Railroad, strike on 

the, 317. 
Grist-mills, 73, 74. 



Guns, manufacture of, 90. 

Gutta-percha and india rubber, capital 
invested in manufacture of, 1860-90, 
184-185; value of production of, 
1860-90, 184. 

Hamilton, Alexander, report of, 200; 
report on manufactures, 102 ; views 
of, on cotton manufacture, 53. 

Handicrafts, attempts to establish, 27. 

Hank, definition of, 331. 

Hargreaves, James, 121, 145. 

Hemp, 26, 57; cultivation of, 57. 

Historic strikes, 301-312. 

Holland, home of the woolen industry, 
43- 

Hollow-ware furnaces, 84. 
Home manufactures, necessity of, 47. 
Homestead strike, 309-312. 
Illinois, law of, relating to boycotts, 
320. 

Immigration, 16, 146. 
Imports, value of, in 1894, 19. 
Imports and exports of Maryland, 48 ; 

of Virginia, 48. 
India rubber and gutta-percha, capital 

invested in manufacture of, 1860-90, 

184-185 ; value of production of, 

1860-90, 184-185. 
India rubber goods, value of, in i860, 

139- 

Indigo, introduction of, 59. 

Industrial conciliation and arbitration, 

288. 

Industries, classification of, in 1890, 
209; concentration of, 196 ; de- 
velopment of, 1790-1860, 132-142 ; 
1860-90, 159-188 ; expansion of, since 
1800, 132 ; review of, during colonial 
period, 101 ; the inception of, 23-32 ; 
value of product of manufacturing, 
159-160; wages in all,i840-90, 223. 

Industry, benefits of constitution of 
1789 in developing, 123; colonial 
status of, 118; diversification of, in 
the North, 148 ; influence of labor 
organizations on development of, 
263 ; Knights of, 253 ; the evolution 
of, 23-114, 117-228; women and 
children in, 200-214. 

Influence of machinery on labor, the, 
323-352. 



Index. 



357 



International Typographical Union, 
243- 

Invention, accountable for employment 
of women, 203. 

Inventions, application of, to textile 
machinery, 163 ; by mechanics of 
Philadelphia, 95 ; expansive force of, 
341 ; influence of, 140-142, 187. 

Iron, 13 ; discovery of, in Connecticut, 
85 ; exports of, from New York, 90 ; 
exports of, from Pennsylvania, 93 ; 
from the colonies, 101 ; first article 
of, 82 ; first, manufactured in Vir- 
ginia, 97 ; in Connecticut, 87 ; in Del- 
aware, 95 ; in Georgia, 100 ; in 
Maryland, 95; in New Jersey, 90 ; in 
North Carolina, 99 ; in Pennsylvania, 
92 ; in Rhode Island, 84 ; per capita 
consumption of, 337. 

Iron and steel, capital invested in 
manufacture of, 1S60-90, 177 ; value 
of product of, 1860-90, 177. 

Iron and steel industry, growth of, 
176. 

Iron foundry, first at Pittsburg, 136. 

Iron industry, encouragement of, 90 ; 
general progress in the, 135 ; indica- 
tive character of, 137 ; revolution in, 
136; the, 80-103. 

Iron ore, discovery of, 13; discovery 
of, west of the Alleghenies, 136 ; ex- 
portation of, 26; in the colonies, 80- 
81 ; west of the Blue Ridge, 98. 

Iron wire, manufacture of, 55. 

Iron-working, 23. 

Iron works, development of, in Vir- 
ginia, 98-99 ; erection of, in New 
York, 87 ; establishment of, in Vir- 
ginia, 26 ; first in Massachusetts, 81 ; 
first in New York, 88 ; first in South 
Carolina, 100; number of, in New 
England, 83; stimulated by the 
Revolution, 96. 

Knights of Labor, 245-263 ; attitude of, 
relative to strikes, 251 ; constitution 
of, 251 ; declarations of principles, 
249 ; demands of, 250 ; estimated 
present membership, 248 ; growth of, 
248 ; instructions of, to new members, 
247 ; intellectual history of, 248 ; 
known as " Five Stars," 247 ; litera- 



ture of, 252 ; measures favored by, 
250 ; measures opposed by, 251. 
Labor, antagonism of systems of, 148 ; 
bureau of, 275 ; capitalization of, 145 ; 
cheapness of, under slavery, 150 ; 
classification of skilled and un- 
skilled, 198 ; comparison of hand 
and machine, 334 ; consequences of 
congregated, 266; contraction of, 

324 ; controversies, 293-300 ; cost of 
slave, 151 ; definition of displace- 
ment of, 323 ; definition of expansion 
of, 325 ; displacement of hand, by 
machinery, 133, 323-335; displace- 
ment offset by expansion of, 341 ; 
domestic system of, 24; effects of 
expensive, 59 ;. establishment of first 
bureau of statistics of, 275 ; estab- 
lishment of United States Depart- 
ment of, 275 ; ethical influence of, 

325 ; ethical influence of machinery 
on » 343-352 ; expansion of, by use of 
machinery, 336; expansion of, caused 
by railroads, 339 ; extent of organ- 
ized, 262 ; free contrasted with slave, 
151 ; high price of, 67 ; influence of 
electroplating in causing expansion 
°C 338; influence of machinery on, 
323-352 ; influence of telegraphy in 
causing expansion of, 338 ; influence 
of telephone in causing expansion 
of, 33S ; long hours of, 242 ; organiza- 
tion of, 232-233, 238-240, 241-263 ; re- 
duction of hours of, through ma- 
chinery, 349 ; regulation of hours of, 
in Massachusetts, 267-269; skilled, 
dear in North Carolina, 100 ; United 
States Department of, 297-298. 

Labor and rates of wages, 1790-1890, 
215-228. 

Labor and wages, 104-114. 

Labor legislation, 273-292 ; summary 
of, 291-292; the basis of, 264-272; 
the growth of, 265. 

Labor literature, early, 236. 

Labor movement, inception of the, 231- 
240 ; the, 231-320. 

Labor organizations, 241-263 ; influ- 
ence of, on development of industry, 
263; list of, affiliated with the Ameri- 
can Federation of Labor, 258-259. 



358 



Index. 



Labor question defined, 231. 

Labor-saving machinery, 325. 

Lakes, Great, carrying trade of, 19. 

Land, value of, in 1890, 14. 

Laws, manufacturers hampered by, 59. 

Lead ore, discovery of, 13. 

Leather-making, displacement of hand 
labor in, 334. 

Lehigh Valley Railroad, strike on the, 
1894, 317. 

Limestone, 76. 

Linen, general use of, 57. 

Linen manufactures, 58. 

Lockout, definition of, 293. 

Lockouts and strikes, 293-320. 

Loom, English power, for weaving 
calico, 130 ; hand, 43, 45 ; power, of 
Edward Cartwright, 119 ; product of 
hand, 331, 332; product of power, 
33i. 

Lumber, etc., capital invested in 
manufacture of, 1860-90, 184 ; exports 
of, 73 J value of product of, 1860-90, 
184 ; wages in production of, 1840- 
90, 220. 

Lumber products, value of, 14. 
Machine and hand labor, comparison 
of, 334- 

Machinery, age of, 345 ; birth of age 
of, 323 ; displacement of hand labor 
by, 323-335 ; economic influence of, 
323; effect of adoption of, on 
labor, 192; efforts to secure cotton, 
in America, 54 ; ethical influence of, 
on labor, 343-352 ; expansion of labor 
by, 336-342 ; gain in wages as result 
of, 348 ; influence of, on expansion of 
values, 342 ; influence of, on labor, 
323-352 ; invention of cotton, in Eng- 
land, 54; labor-saving, 323-352 ; 
reduction of hours of labor through, 
349 ; results in expansion, 195 ; spin- 
ning, 55. 

Machines and machinery, displace- 
ment of hand labor in manufacture 
of, 334- 

Maine, brick-kilns in, 77 ; shipbuilding 
in, 32. 

Manual training, advantages of, 348. 
Manufactures, accounts of, for 1810 
and i860, 137-138 ; analysis of, 186 ; 



capital invested in, 1860-90, 159-160; 
difficulties of establishing, 121 ; dis- 
tribution and value of, in i860, 139- 
140; distribution of products of, in 
1810, 138; distribution of products 
of, in 1890, 187 ; encouragement 
of, by South Carolina, 50; esti- 
mate of value of, 102 ; growth of, 
in one hundred years, 187 ; home, 
necessity of, 47 ; per capita value of 
products of, 160 ; proportion of 
population engaged in, 189 ; report 
on, by Alexander Hamilton, 102 ; 
stimulated by Civil War, 188 ; value 
of, in 1790, 102 ; value of products of, 
in 1810, 138; value of product of, 
1860-90, 159, 160. 

Manufacturing industries, capital in- 
vested in, 1860-90, 159, 160 ; value of 
product of, 1860-90, 159, 160. 

Marble, 76. 

Maryland, bog ore discovered in, 95 ; 
cannon cast in, 96 ; cultivation of 
cotton in, 51 ; decrease of cotton 
culture in, 52 ; imports and exports 
of, 48 ; iron in, 95 ; legislative en- 
couragement of mechanic arts in, 
96 ; number of forges in, at close of 
seventeenth century, 97 ; printing 
in, 64 ; reputation of pig-iron in, 97 ; 
shipbuilding in, 39-40. 

Massachusetts, acts of legislature of, 
regarding children, 270, 271-272; 
Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 
224, 237, 278, 282, 292; commis- 
sion of 1866 and 1867, recom- 
mendations of, 273, 274; establish- 
ment of first bureau of statistics of 
labor, 275 ; first supplies of cotton 
in, 51 ; introduction of textile ma- 
chinery in, 124; labor legislation in, 
267 ; sheep-raising in, 44 ; shoe 
manufactures in, 102 ; ten-hour agi- 
tation in, 242; ten-hour law, 276; 
workingmen's trains, 276. 

Meal, capital invested in manufacture 
of, 1860-90, 172 ; value of product of 
manufacture of, 1860-90, 172. 

Meat-packing and slaughtering, capi- 
tal invested in, 1870-90, 174 ; value 
of product of, 1870-90, 174. 



Index. 



359 



Mechanic arts, encouragement of, in 
Maryland, 96; necessity of, 123. 

Mechanical industries, value of prod- 
ucts of, in i860, 138-139. 

Mechanical resources of the North, 153. 

Merchandise, value of, in 1890, 14. 

Metals and metallic goods, wages in 
manufacture of, 1S40-90, 220. 

Mineral wealth of the South, 155. 

Mines, value of products of, in 1889, 14. 

Mining, per capita value of products 
of, 160. 

Mining industries, 13. 

Missouri Pacific Railroad, strike on, 
307-308. 

Mule-jenny, Crompton's, 56. 

Muskets, early manufacture of, 84. 

Nails, manufacture of, in Pennsyl- 
vania, 94; production of wire, 178. 

New Hampshire, first press in, 64 ; 
shipbuilding in, 35. 

New Jersey, Bureau of Statistics of 
Labor and Industries, 282, 295; de- 
velopment of textile industry in, 49 ; 
iron in, 90 ; shipbuilding in, 38. 

Newspaper, first, 63 ; first daily, in 
America, 66 ; second, 64. 

Newspapers, number of, in the colo- 
nies, 66. 

New York, erection of iron works in, 
87; first iron works in, 88; first 
press in, 63; public spinning in, 58; 
shipbuilding in, 35-36. 

North Carolina, first press in, 64 ; iron 
in, 99; native-born population of, 
147 ; skilled labor dear in, 100. 

Number of children employees in all 
industries, 1870-90, 207. 

Number of persons employed and 
their total wages, 189-199. 

Number of women employees in all 
industries, 1850-90, 205-207. 

Oleomargarine, manufacture of, 175- 
176. 

Organized labor, extent of, 262. 
Pan Handle Railroad, strike on the, 
302. 

Paper, duty on, 68; wages in manu- 
facture of, 1860-90, 221. 
Paper-mill, first, in the colonies, 65. 
Patents, number of, issued, 140-141. 



Pennsylvania, copper in, 93 ; encour- 
agement of production of woolen 
goods by, 48 ; exports of iron from, 
93 ; iron in, 92 ; manufacture of 
nails in, 94 ; manufacture of small 
arms in, 94 ; shipbuilding in, 38 ; 
works for drawing wire in, 94. 

Pennsylvania Railroad, strike on the, 
302-306. 

Personal property, value of, 14. 

Petroleum, capital invested in the pro- 
duction of, 1880-90, 183 ; production 
of, 182-183 ; value of production of, 
1880-90, 183. 

Philadelphia, early attempts at cotton 
manufacture in, 55; introduction of 
spinning-wheel irons in, 48 ; inven- 
tions by mechanics of, 95 ; promi- 
nence of, in naval architecture, 38. 

Pick, definition of, 331. 

Pieceworkers, compared with oper- 
ators, 197 ; earnings of, 197 ; increase 
in number of, 198. 

Pig-iron, definition of, 84 ; refinery in 
New York, 89 ; reputation of, in 
Maryland, 97. 

Pittsburg, first iron foundry at, 136. 

Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and Chicago 
Railroad, strike on, 302. 

Planing-mills, product of, 183. 

Plymouth, 1621, 73; boatbuilding at, 
29, 31 ; early exports from, 28 ; settle- 
ment at, 28; sheep-raising in, 44; 
shipbuilding at, 84. 

Population, center of, shifted west- 
ward, 18; centers of, in the United 
States at different census periods, 
17; density of, 15; distribution of, 
17 ; distribution of, at eleventh cen- 
sus, 15 ; increase of, compared with 
increase in persons employed, 338 ; 
loss of native, 147 ; native and for- 
eign-born, 16 ; of the colonies at first 
census, 14; of the United States at 
each decennial census, 15 ; of the 
United States in 1895, 15; urban, 18. 

Prices, 1830-60, 224 ; 1840-90, 225-226 ; 
currency and gold, compared, 228; 
decline in, 225; of commodities, 1630- 
1740, no; variation in, no. 

Printed matter, first, 62. 



360 



Index. 



Printing, displacement of hand labor 

in, 333 ; obstacles in the way of, 68. 
Printing and publishing, 61-70 ; capital 

invested in, 1860-90, 185 ; value of 

product of, 1S60-90, 185. 
Printing press, first, 62 ; second, 62 ; 

third, 63. 

Product, increase in value of, 193 ; 
number of persons to each $1,000 
worth of, 193 ; relation of, to capital, 
194. 

Production, distribution and center of, 
161. 

Publications, number of, in 1890, 185 ; 
tax on, 67. 

Pullman Company, strike of employ- 
ees of, 313-320. 

Railroads, expansion of labor caused 
by, 339 ; number of people required 
to operate, 339 ; value of, 14 ; wages 
on, 1840-90, 222. 

Railway mileage in the United States, 
18-19. 

Raw material, illustration of use of, 186. 

Real and personal property, value of, 
in 1890, 14. 

Real estate, value of, 1889, 14. 

Rents, increase in, 226. 

Revolution, conditions at close of, 103 ; 
effect of, on cloth manufacture, 55 ; 
iron works stimulated by, 96 ; ship- 
building prior to the, 41. 

Rhode Island, first press in, 64 ; manu- 
facture of iron in, 84; manufacture 
of woolen cloths in, 49 ; shipbuild- 
ing in, 35. 

Rolled-iron, definition of, 84. 

Rolling-mill, definition of, 83. 

Roping, definition of, 124. 

Rubber goods, manufacture of, 341. 

Salem, erection of fulling-mill at, 46 ; 
shipbuilding at, 30. 

Salt, manufacture of, 29. 

Salt works, establishments of, in Vir- 
ginia, 26. 

Saw-gin, Whitney's, 52. 

Sawmills, 71-79; first, in colonies, 71, 72; 
value of product of, in 1770, 73. 

Screw-cutting machines, 84. 

Sewing machine, 141 ; displacement of 
hand labor by the, 340. 



Sheep-raising, in Massachusetts, 44 ; 
in Plymouth, 44 ; in Virginia, 43 ; in 
West Jersey, 49. 

Ship and boatbuilders, wages of, at 
close of colonial period, 110. 

Shipbuilders, incorporation of, 31. 

Shipbuilding, 23-42; at Boston, 30; 
at Marblehead, 30 ; at Medford,3o; 
at Narragansett Bay, 84; at Plymouth, 
84 ; at Salem, 30 ; in Connecticut, 33; 
in Delaware, 39 ; in Maine, 32 ; in 
Maryland, 39-40; in Middle States, 
39 ; in New Hampshire, 35 ; in New 
Jersey, 38 ; in New York, 35-36 ; in 
Pennsylvania, 38; in Rhode Island, 
35 ; in South Carolina, 41 ; in South- 
ern States, 39 ; in Virginia, 40 ; on 
the Great Lakes, 36-37 ; prior to the 
Revolution, 41 ; reputation of Wil- 
mington in, 39 ; the first mechanical 
industry, 42. 

Shipbuilding materials, 40-41. 

Ship timber, exportation of, 13. 

Shoe industry, oldest seat of, 171. 

Shoe manufactures in Massachusetts, 
102. 

Silk, capital invested in manufacture 
of, 1860-90, 165 ; production of, 1860- 
90, 165. 

Silk culture, 59. 

Silver, discovery of, 13. 

Slater, Samuel, 125-126, 128. 

Slave labor, 145 ; contrasted with free, 
151; cost of, 151; expense of, 149; 
introduction of, 143. 

Slave system in Virginia, 104. 

Slavery, abolition of, in Northern 
States, 144 ; influence of, 157. 

Slitting-mill, definition of, 83. 

Small arms, manufacture of, in Penn- 
sylvania, 94. 

Smelting, definition of, 83. 

South, diversified industry impossible 
in the, 152 ; industrial progress of 
the, 154 ; mechanical development 
of, after the war, 153 ; mineral wealth 
of the, 155 ; resources of the,. 152 ; 
transfer of cotton cultivation to the, 
52. 

South Carolina, cultivation of cotton 
in, 51 ; early cotton machinery in, 



Index. 



361 



126; encouragement of manufactures 
by, 50; erection of fulling-mills in, 
50 ; first iron works in, 100 ; first 
press in, 64 ; native-born population 
of, 147 ; shipbuilding in, 41. 

Southern States, cotton industry in, 
135 ; shipbuilding in, 39. 

Spindles, number of, 1860-90, 163 ; 
number of, at different periods, 134 ; 
number to each operative, 195. 

Spinning-jack, definition of, 56. 

Spinning-jenny, 95; definition of, 56; 
exportation of, prohibited, 56 ; first, 
in America, 122 ; Hargreaves', 54. 

Spinning machine, Arkwright's, 50. 

Spinning machinery, 55, 126; erection 
of, in America, 126. 

Spinning machines, product of, 331. 

Spinning-mule, definition of, 56. 

Spinning-wheel, 43, 45. 

Stage coach, displacement of, 339. 

Steam, use of, 120. 

Steam-engine, first, in America, 95. 

Steel and iron, capital invested in 
manufacture of, 1860-90, 177 ; value 
of product of, 1860-90, 177. 

Steel and iron industry, growth of, 176. 

Steel, bessemer, manufacture of, 1S60- 
90, 178 ; first attempts at the produc- 
tion of, in Connecticut, 86 ; first, pro- 
duced in New York, 89 ; per capita 
consumption of, 337 ; total produc- 
tion of, 1860-90, 178. 

Stone-working, 23. 

Strike, at Chicago, 1894, 313-320; at 
Homestead, 309-312; definition of, 
293; first, in the United States, 
293; first notable, in this century, 
294 ; general railroad, of 1877, 302- 
306; lesson of the, 317; loss on ac- 
count of the, 315 ; of employees of 
the Pullman Company, 313-320; of 
telegraphers, 1883, 306-307 ; of the 
American Railway Union, 317 ; on 
Allegheny Valley Railroad, 302 ; on 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 301 ; 
on Gould system of railroads, 
307-309 ; on Great Northern Rail- 
road, 317 ; on Lehigh Valley Rail- 
road, 1893, 317 ; on Missouri Pacific 
Railroad, 307-308 ; on Pan Handle 



Railroad, 302 ; on Pennsylvania 
Railroad, 302-306 ; on Pittsburg, Fort 
Wayne and Chicago Railroad, 302. 

Strikes, historic, 301-312 ; influence of 
noted, 299 ; losses by, 299 ; railroad, 
of 1877, 301 ; and lockouts, 293-320. 

Tailoring, capital invested in, 1860-90, 
167 ; value of product of, 1860-90, 167. 

Telegraphers' strike of 1883, 306-307. 

Telegraphy, influence of, in causing 
expansion of labor, 338. 

Telephone, influence of, in causing ex- 
pansion of labor, 338. 

Ten-hour agitation in Massachusetts, 
242. 

Ten-hour law in Massachusetts, 276. 
Ten-hour movement, 240. 
Ten-hour system, 268. 
Texas, 11. 

Textile factory, first, 124. 

Textile industries, 43-60; increase of 
women employees in, 1850-90, 208. 

Textile industry, development of, 49 ; 
indicative character of, 137. 

Textile machinery, first attempts to 
secure, 121 ; introduction of, 124-125. 

Textile manufactures, importance of, 
162 ; increase in number of employ- 
ees in, 1860-90, 194 ; increase in 
wages of employees in, 1S60-90, 194. 

Textiles, capital invested in manufac- 
ture of, 1860-90, 161 ; displacement of 
hand labor in manufacture of, 331 ; 
value of production of, 1860-90, 161. 

Tide-mill, definition of, 47. 

Tide-mills, erection of, 47. 

Tile and brick, capital invested in 
manufacture of, 1860-90, 184 ; value 
of production of, 1860-90, 184. 

Timber, exportation of, 13. 

Timber products, 14. 

Tinware, first manufacture of, 88. 

Tobacco, exchange of, for necessaries 
of life, 28 ; exportation of, 13. 

Tobacco plant, cultivation of, 26. 

Tons burden, definition of, 28. 

Tools, exportation of, prohibited, 121. 

Total number of employees, 1850-90, 
191. 

Total wages paid to all employees, 
1850-90, 192. 



362 



Index. 



Trade, regulation of, in colonies, 264. 
Trades unions, list of early, 244. 
Transportation, by water, 19 ; great 

influence of, 18. 
Truck system, 286-287. 
Typewriting machines, manufacture 

of, 179. 

United States Department of Labor, 
2 75> 2 97 ; establishment of, 275. 

Values, expansion of, 342. 

Vessel, first, in this country, 29. 

Vessels, construction of war, 36. 

Virginia, development of iron works 
in, 98-99 ; efforts to develop textile 
manufactures in, 48; exports from, 
25 ; first attempt at iron-making in, 
97; first fulling-mills in, 48; first 
to make bricks, 76 ; imports and 
exports of, 48 ; native-born popu- 
lation of, 147 ; opposition to de- 
velopment of textile manufactures 
in, 48 ; planters in, 27 ; sheep-raising 
in, 43 ; shipbuilding in, 40 ; slave 
system in, 104; useful arts in, 27; 
wages in, 109 ; woolen manufacture 
in, 48. 

Wages, attempts at regulation of, 105- 
107; average, in leading industries, 
at different periods, 218; effect of 
attempts to regulate, 108; gain in, 
as a result of machinery, 348 ; high- 
est in Western States, 195; in all 
industries, 1840-90, 223; in building 
trades, 219-220 ; 1840-90, 222 ; in city 
public works, 1854-90, 217 ; in manu- 
facture of agricultural inplements, 
1860-90, 219 ; in manufacture of 
carriages and wagons, 1840-90, 224; 
in manufacture of cotton goods, 
1840-90, 218; in manufacture of 
metals and metallic goods, 1840-90, 
220 ; in manufacture of paper, 1860- 
90,221; in production of books and 
newspapers, 1842-90, 219 ; in pro- 
duction of lumber, 1840-90, 220; in 
production of woolen goods, 1850-90, 



221 ; in Virginia, 109 ; labor and 
rates of, 1790-1890, 215-228 ; notion 
that law could fix, 107; of cotton- 
mill operatives, 216 ; of ship and 
boatbuilders at close of colonial 
period, no; of the sexes, dispro- 
portion between, 211 ; on railroads, 
1840-90, 222 ; opposition to arbitrary, 
114; the number of persons em- 
ployed and their total, 189-199 ; 
total, 1850-90, 191 ; total, paid to all 
employees, 192 ; towns authorized to 
fix, 106. 

Wages and labor, 104-114. 

Water-mills, 72. 

Wealth, of the country, 13-14 ; of the 

country, in 1890, 14; per capita, 14. 
Windmills, 74. 

Wire, works for drawing, in Pennsyl- 
vania, 94. 

Wire nails, production of, 178. 

Women, conditions of employment of, 
206-207, 211-213 ; employees in all in- 
dustries, number of, 1850-90, 205-207; 
increase in number of, in industry, 
205-209; wages of, 109, 112. 

Women and children, average earn- 
ings of, in cotton manufacturing 
states, 210; in industry, 200-214. 

Wool, beginning of manufacture of, 
46. 

Wool-card, definition of, 50. 

Wool manufacture, capital invested in, 
1860-90, 163-164 ; value of product of, 
1860-90, 163-164. 

Woolen cloth, manufacture of, in 
Rhode Island, 49 ; production of, in 
Connecticut, 47 ; in Virginia, 48. 

Woolen goods, encouragement of pro- 
duction of, by Pennsylvania, 48; 
total value of, in i860, 139; wages in 
production of, 1850-90, 221. 

Workingmen, condition of, during 
colonial period, 112-114. 

Workingmen's trains, 276. 

Workmen, importation of skilled, 25. 



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